Traveller's Tales: Race against time
by Coooool123
Summary: An unfortunate accident with two ground bridges throws most of the Transformer's Prime characters into different dimensions. A dimensional traveller, named CJ, finds Bumblebee and begins helping him find the others, all the while making new friends, helping others with their problems, and hiding her betrayed past.
1. Prologue

Everyone has a story to tell. Some arrive, and are never recounted. Others are told to an eager audience. This is my story. Well, one of them, anyway. Some I'm glad to tell, others I wish I could forget. I doubt you'll ever know all of my tales, but I'll tell you this one anyway. Thankfully I'm glad to do so. I think you'll enjoy it.

It was a typical Friday afternoon for high school students. There were only ten minutes left until the final bell rung, signalling the weekend. The football players had already left to practice for the game that night. It was the finals.

In a particular math class, people were just finishing up a test. A girl sat near the back corner of the room, having just finished the test moments ago, and was preparing to leave. She had the weekend to herself, no homework to worry about, no plans to be concerned with, nothing. The student who usually sat behind her had been absent that day, and so she was able to get up and stare out the small corner window without disturbing anyone. She watched as the football players ran around the field at the back of the school, warming up. Faintly, cars could be heard on the road on the other side of the school, out of sight. She was relieved that the test was over, and worried about her mark. But that wasn't the only thing she was concerned about.

As she stared out the window, she heard particularly loud engine noises. Figuring it was simply some hotshot on the road, she rolled her eyes and continued to look out the window. But it was then that something strange happened. A yellow muscle car suddenly sped up from the right and skidded onto the field. The football players stopped their exercises and stared as the car revved its engine. One of the coaches began to head towards the car in anger. As he made his way across the field, however, the girl heard the sound of another car's engine, becoming louder as it approached. Soon, she saw the source of the noise: a red sports car. It barrelled towards the yellow car, stopping inches from its fender. The vehicle then proceeded to do something amazing: it began to change, rising up and becoming a robot. It was transforming. The car parts moved and became limbs, and as the girl stared, frozen in shock, a face was revealed.

"No…" she whispered. Looking around, she saw that her teacher was nowhere to be seen, and thus she grabbed her bag and raced out of the room, the screams of the students outside raising eyebrows and turning heads. But no one noticed her absence.

Students rushed past her as she made for the doors. She expected that the school would call for a lockdown and call the police, and thus she had to make it outside before they came. By the time she reached the field, seconds later, the yellow car had transformed as well.

"YOU IDIOTS!" she shouted at them, ignoring the pleas from the teachers behind her for her to come back. The two robots looked down at her as she reached them. She had no fear on her face, only rage. The yellow robot began to beep in defense.

"I don't care whose fault it was!" the girl shrieked. "You should never have left the yard!"

"You've got quite an attitude for a fleshling," the red robot noted with a smirk.

"And you'll get more of it if you don't shut up and listen to me," the girl replied, "The cops will be here in minutes. If we don't get out of here now, you'll never leave." She adjusted a part of her sleeve, revealing a massive black watch. She looked down at it sadly.

"I promised myself that I'd never use this again," she murmured. The yellow robot beeped sympathetically, causing her to shake her head.

"You're right; I suppose we have no other choice." Turning to the red robot, she explained what was going on. The red robot proceeded to nod slowly, reluctant, and the girl pushed a few buttons on her watch. After a few moments, a green and blue portal opened, bigger than the massive robots themselves.

"I guess you could call this a kind of Ground Bridge," she grinned. "Now move. We don't have much time."

The robots obeyed, and after a few seconds, she followed them into the portal. It vanished as the sound of sirens came into earshot. The teachers and the other students simply gawked at the place where they had stood.

That was probably very confusing, wasn't it? We have no idea who the robots are, who the girl is, how she met the robots… Well, I'll tell you now, I didn't start at the beginning; about a week from it. So let's go back to that day that the girl met the robot. Which one? You'll know soon enough. But maybe you already do.


	2. Chapter 1: Crash and Meet

A girl sat at her computer in the middle of the living room. Her brown hair was brushed away from her dark purple glasses as she focused on the essay that she was writing for Shakespeare. With a sigh, she sat up and stretched, her back rubbing against the dark red leather couch that she was leaning against. The small girl rolled up her black hoodie sleeves, before returning to work, alternating between the papers on the floor and the computer screen. It was quiet; her father at work, her mother at an appointment, and no music to distract her. But music wasn't the only source of distraction, as she soon found out.

As she stared at the screen, she sighed and placed the laptop onto the ground. Standing up, she turned to the right and went to the windows that illuminated the room. Staring outside, she watched the bare trees of her yard dance in the November wind. It was then that she heard the buzzing. Curious, she went to the door and opened it. The noise grew louder as the girl stepped outside. As she strained to listen, the buzzing came closer and closer. Curious, she looked to the right, and then to the left. Seeing nothing, she stepped forward a little bit more.

At that moment, a yellow muscle car with a black stripe painted onto it barreled down the street, veering and crashing into one of the trees that were in her yard. With a gasp, she rushed forwards to inspect the car. It didn't seem to be too broken up; in fact, there was hardly a dent. Running around the car, the girl went to the driver side door and attempted to open it. It was locked.

"Open the door!" she begged, pounding on the black glass. She couldn't see inside, and there was no response.

"Are you alright?" she tried again, "I'll call an ambulance!" The girl turned to go around the car, but a noise stopped her. It was a long, drawn out beep, which, for some reason, she understood.

_Owww..._

The girl's eyes widened. This couldn't possibly be...

The car beeped again. Looking up and down the street to make sure that no one was there, the girl bent down to the left headlight.

"If you're who I think you are, then back up, and follow me. I'm a friend."

The car remained silent, but did as she instructed, backing onto the road. The girl ran down the block, turned onto a side street, and led the car into the grassy back lane. "No one can see us here," the girl explained. "Are you... Bumblebee?"

The car beeped a question in surprise.

"I just knew. When I heard you beep in pain."

Beep beep?

"I don't really know, I just can. Are you hurt?"

Beep.

"Well, good. You should be safe back here, anyway. You can stay in vehicle mode if you'd like."

Beep beep beep?

"Humans here know a lot about you, and the others. Don't be worried. Technically, you don't exist."

Beep?!

"I'll explain it later. But first, how'd you get here?"

The muscle car remained silent for a moment, before recounting to the girl what had happened.

It had been a normal enough day; Ratchet was doing a daily systems check, Optimus Prime and Arcee were out doing recon, and Bulkhead and Bumblebee were simply relaxing, trying to stay out of Ratchet's way. They would soon pick up the kids from school and hang out until they were needed. Bulkhead turned to Bumblebee as they stood in the main room.

"So you're taking Jack today?" he asked. Bumblebee beeped in confirmation.

"Have fun with that," he chuckled, "Miko and I are heading into the desert for a bit so that she can show me a new album she got yesterday."

Bee nodded, beeping a reply.

"So Jack's just going to sit here and wait for Arcee?"

Bee shrugged.

"Well, if that's what he wanted," Bulkhead appeared skeptical. The two of them proceeded to transform into vehicle mode before pulling out of the base and heading towards the town a few miles away.

Three kids sat on the steps of the school, waiting for their rides. One was a dark-haired boy of about sixteen; another was a Japanese girl with a pink streak in her black hair and a CD case in her hand, and the third was a short boy with glasses and brown hair, much younger than the other two, who was carrying a yellow and black remote controlled toy car. The girl flashed a grin as she waved the CD in the boys' faces. "I can't wait to show Bulk this new album!"

"I'm sure you are, Miko. I'm just happy that it's finally the weekend. Arcee and I were planning to take a ride in the country." The older boy replied, looking up and down the street for their friends.

"Aren't you heading to the base with Bee and I first, Jack?" The boy with glasses looked up at him.

"Yeah, I'm supposed to wait until Optimus and Arcee are finished recon, Raf. _Then_ we go for a ride."

Two horns caused the three children to look up. A yellow muscle car and a green SUV pulled up to the school, honking once more.

"Oh yeah!" Miko pumped her fist, running towards the SUV. "We are gonna ROCK!"

Rolling his eyes, Jack followed Raf to the muscle car. The doors popped open, and the boys slid inside.

"How's it going, Bee?" Raf asked the vehicle. Some beeps came as a reply.

"He says that he's been really bored," Raf translated for Jack as he entered the back seat, "Don't worry, Bee! We have the whole weekend to hang out now."

Jack smiled as he buckled his seatbelt. He tuned out the conversation and stared out the window. Riding in Bumblebee was nice, but he always felt restrained in cars. He'd prefer riding with Arcee, but beggars can't be choosers.

They reached the base a few minutes later. For some reason, Bulkhead had tagged along instead of going straight to the desert with Miko. Her voice suddenly resonated from the communication unit in Bumblebee's radio.

"Why aren't we going to the desert?" she demanded.

"We have to head to the base for a moment. Optimus' orders."

"Hmph." Miko was probably sulking. Jack and Raf could visualize her pouting against Bulkhead's interior.

As they entered the secret doorway, Jack smiled again, remembering how panicked he'd been the first time he had arrived.

_Why am I so nostalgic today?_

Bee screeched to a halt, letting Rafael and Jack exit, before transforming to robot mode. Jack looked around. Arcee and Optimus Prime were discussing some things with Ratchet. The three of them looked up as Bulkhead let out a sulking Miko and transformed to robot mode.

"Bulkhead, Bumblebee," Optimus nodded his greeting, before getting down to business. "We've discovered Decepticon activity while doing reconnaissance."

"So we're having a beat down?" Bulkhead asked with a smirk, pounding a fist into his other hand.

Prime nodded. "You could call it that. We depart immediately."

"Awww!" Miko whined. "Can we come with?"

"No," Optimus glanced down at the children. "You shall remain here, with Ratchet."

Ratchet looked over at his leader. "Awww..."

"Prepare the Ground Bridge," Optimus ignored him. Ratchet did as he was told, a little irritated that he had to look after the children _again_. The blue and green bridge opened up, and Optimus went towards it, the other three robots in tow.

"Autobots, roll out," he ordered, transforming into a transport truck and driving off. The others followed suite in their own vehicle modes.

The three kids sighed simultaneously, before heading towards the television to play some video games while they waited for the Autobots to return.


	3. Chapter 2: Explanations and a Time Limit

The girl nodded as she listened. Bumblebee paused for a moment in order to catch his breath.

"Sounds normal enough," the girl noted, "I'm aware of who you're talking about. But it still doesn't explain how you got here."

Bee replied with an indignant beep.

"Alright, alright! You're getting to it! I won't interrupt again!"

The yellow Autobot beeped a 'hmph' and went on to relate what had happened after they had reached the location where Decepticon activity had been found.

The four of them had been transported to an empty desert valley. Sand stretched as far as the optic could see.

Bumblebee made a flurry of electronic noises.

"I'm not reading anything either, Bee," Arcee replied.

"Stay sharp," Optimus ordered, "There could be Deceptions anywhere."

The four of them were silent, with Bee and Arcee scouting ahead. Suddenly, Bulkhead cried out. "Over there!"

The others looked to where he had pointed. Two puffs of sand rushed towards their position, one driving, and the other flying.

"Starscream and Knock-Out," Arcee identified them. "What could they be doing in a place like this?" She readied her blasters.

"I do not know," Optimus replied, "But whatever they are doing here, it cannot be good." He prepared his blasters, as did Bumblebee and Bulkhead. The two Decepticons reached them a moment later. It turned out that they were a red sports car and a silver plane.

"Well!" The plane scoffed. "If it isn't the Autobots!"

"What are you doing here, Starscream?" Arcee hissed.

"Wouldn't you like to know!" the red sports car retorted.

"Actually, we would, Knock Out!" Bulkhead aimed his two large blasters at the car.

"Well, we'd love to stay and chat and beat you into a pulp," Starscream told them, "But we're in a bit of a hurry."

"_You_ beat _us_?" Bulkhead chuckled, "I'd like to see you try."

The Decepticons transformers, anger on Starscream's face, and arrogance on Knock Out's.

"We were attempting to be civil," Starscream growled, "But it appears that we will have to teach you a lesson."

"Decepticons aren't _civil_," Arcee spat, "And the only thing you'd ever teach us is how to lose miserably. It's the only thing you're good at."

The villains readied themselves into a fighting stance, but before anyone could make a move, Bumblebee began to panic.

"What is it, Bumblebee?" Optimus looked at him, blasters still aimed at the Decepticons.

Bee began waving erratically, pointing at something behind the Decepticons.

"Oh no..." Arcee whispered in shock.

Starscream risked a glance back, narrowing his eyes at what he saw. "And _that_ is why we were in a hurry."

A sand-coloured wall was moving quickly towards them. The wind began to pick up, and the robots attempted to find footing in the soft sand.

"We were _trying_ to outrun the sandstorm that was barreling down on us. It's impossible to move, and it's even more impossible to get a signal through that storm!" Starscream yelled over the wind as sand began to swirl around them.

Hearing this, Optimus brought his comm link to his face. "Ratchet," he ordered, "Requesting Ground Bridge immediately." Starscream was issuing the same command, only he was more panicked about it. Two bridges opened close to each other the moment the sandstorm reached them. The wind whipped around as the six of them attempted to reach the bridges home.

They all transformed into vehicle mode, with the exception of Starscream, who would have been worse off considering the wind. The wind also had an unseen affect on the bridges. It caused them to draw closer and closer. The moment the robots reached them, they had begun to meld together. Bee screamed over the noise to tell the others what was happening, but it was too late. The bridges collapsed in on each other, fusing together, and exploded, blinding the robots and causing them to vanish.

Bee shut his eyes, and the next thing he knew, he was fender first in a tree with a girl attempting to open the driver side door, pounding on the glass.

"I see," the girl realized, "So, and sorry if this sounds strange, the ground bridges were forced together by the sandstorm, causing a cataclysmic reaction that sent you here."

Bee beeped a yes.

"So, now I'll tell you where here is," she went on, "This is planet Earth."

Bee buzzed a sigh of relief. He answered with a flurry of electronic noises.

"Hold on, I'm not finished. You aren't as close to home as you may think."

The robot was silent, confused.

"When I told you that you didn't exist here, I was speaking the truth. Your world here is a television show. I believe the ground bridge caused an explosion so severe that it sent all of you to another dimension."

Bee was shocked. He began to beep worriedly.

"Relax," she soothed, "Be glad _I'm_ the one who found you. I'm an expert on this stuff. Otherwise you might not get back home at all."

Bumblebee breathed another sigh of relief before answering.

"Well, it's not all good," the girl bit her lip, "If my knowledge of inter-dimensional travel serves me right, then your friends are either here, or were scattered throughout different dimensions. It would most likely be the second option, unfortunately. If we don't find the others, and get you back home, your dimension will collapse in on itself, and you'll all cease to exist."

Beep beep?! Beep beep beep?

"More time than you think. When others travel, their dimension is put into a slow down mode when the portal, or bridge, closes. It varies from dimensions. Here, every one second equals an hour wherever I am."

Bee nodded as best he could in vehicle mode before beeping back at her.

"I suppose we should find out if any of your friends are here first. You said it was you, Arcee, Optimus, Bulkhead, Knock Out, and Starscream?"

Beep.

"No humans."

Beep.

"Good. They're harder to track. I doubt the ground bridge blast would have affected them, anyway, if they were at your base."

Beep. Beep beep beep beep.

"Are you sure?"

Beep.

"Alright then. You'll look for your friends. But come back here when you're done. In the meantime, I'll see what I can do to get you back home."

The car revved its engine.

"But come back here tonight. You'll be safer here."

Bee nodded, before driving out of the back lane. But before he left, he called a question to her.

"That's right... I never told you my name." The girl smiled. "Call me CJ."

Bee tested her name out, before driving off.

"Hope you find them..." she sighed, "I don't know if I could do this if they aren't here..."


	4. Chapter 3: Another Found

That evening, Bee returned to CJ's back lane with a heavy spark. She walked out from a yard a few feet away, and gestured for him to pull up. Obeying, he found himself between four small evergreens and a tall fence. The grass felt cool under the tires. It was already dark. He had only seen her because his headlights had been illuminated.

"Did you find them?"

Bee replied with a long, drawn out beep.

"I'm sorry," she apologized sympathetically, "At least you'll be hidden from site in my backyard."

Bee beeped in agreement, and transformed to robot mode. Between her garage and a clothesline pole near the trees, there was very little room to get into the yard, but Bee managed to slip into the yard with minimal noise or damage. He found that if he stayed low to the ground, he was concealed on all four sides: the small trees behind him, the tall fence on the left, the garage on his right, and the house in front of him made a small alcove where he was hidden from sight.

"Cool," CJ grinned up at him, "The only problem now is my parents. You need to be out of here early tomorrow and Sunday if you want to stay hidden."

Bee nodded as he sat down on the leaf-covered lawn. CJ continued to speak.

"I'm working on something that will track your friends, and enemies, on this entire planet," she told him, "Once I'm done, we can find out if they're here. Then we can get to them, and you can all go home. It will also be useful if they aren't here."

Beep beep!

"Nah, I'm not really that smart, I'm just creative."

Beep beep beep.

"Oh stop," she grinned, "It took me a long time to develop it, anyway."

Beep beep?

"It's a watch. It lets me, as I call it, 'Dimension Hop'. If your friends aren't here, we'll use it to find out where they really are. The watch should be able to lock on to their signals even if they're in another dimension."

Beep!

"Yes, I know it sounds ridiculous, but this watch has got more features than an iPhone."

Beep?

"A phone in our dimension. Not important."

Beep... Beep, beep beep.

"You, too. Let me know if you need anything."

Beep beep beep beep?

"No, I don't have any Energon. If you need power, you can plug yourself into the wall. There's a spot on the side of the house."

...Beep.

"No problem. Goodnight."

Beep!

And thus it continued, the same way for the next few nights. CJ would work on her watch, getting it ready for usage, and Bumblebee would drive around, looking for any signal of the others. But he always came back. Sometimes he brought CJ with him, too, when her parents weren't aware of it.

It was Wednesday morning when she finished her work on the device.

"It's ready, Bee," CJ told him, "But I don't think we should use it just yet."

Beep? Beep beep?

"Let's wait until the weekend. It will be a better time. Until then, I'll let it scan the planet for signs of your friends."

Bee couldn't help feeling that she was hiding something, but simply nodded in agreement.

"By the way, I feel that it's best for you to stay in the yard."

Beep?!

"Yes. I'm sorry. My watch will detect your friends, and if you start driving around, it might mistake you for one of them. Also, we don't need to arouse suspicion. Just go behind the garage in the morning, transform, and wait until my parents leave. Then just stay here until I get home."

Bumblebee looked down at the ground, disappointed.

"It's only for two or three days, Bee!" she soothed. "Now I have to hurry, or I'm going to be late."

Beep beep?

"No, Bee," CJ shook her head, "You can't take me to school."

Beeeeep?

She sighed, before letting out a laugh. "Alright, alright! But then stay in the yard!"

Bee cheered, before slipping into the back lane and transforming. The passenger side door swung open, and CJ slipped inside.

"I didn't really want to walk today, anyway."

After a few minutes of driving, they reached her school. CJ stepped out of Bee when he had pulled to a stop. Turning around, she whispered to him.

"Please, Bee. Go home and stay there. We'll warp in a few days. You need to conserve your energy, anyway."

Bee quietly beeped a reluctant sigh of agreement. She shut the door, and he pulled away.

The days went on without incident. Soon, it was Friday. CJ had kept to herself most of the week, never telling anyone about her secret friend. Some of her classmates were a little suspicious, but not enough to ask about it.

_47.3 metres_

She wrote down the final answer to the test paper in front of her. With a smile, she went and put the paper on the teacher's desk, before returning to her seat and relaxing. Unfortunately for her, that would change in the next few seconds.

Against her orders, Bumblebee had decided to go for a little drive. The watch had already scanned the area, so he felt that he was free to go. CJ had the watch with her at the moment, though she had never told him why. He supposed that she was keeping an eye on it.

He drove around the city, avoiding most of the traffic. It was quiet, considering school would let out soon. After a few more minutes of driving, he decided to surprise CJ and go pick her up. Sticking to the side roads, he wove his way to her school. On the way, he happened to pass a Walmart devoid of cars, except for one particular vehicle. It seemed somewhat familiar, but Bee decided to ignore it.

The car, however, didn't ignore him. Once he was out of site, it revved its engine and drove after him.

Bee didn't notice it until he was about five minutes from the school. He beeped in quiet surprise, and then, after a few seconds, again in realization.

Speeding up, he kept a short distance ahead of the vehicle. For some reason, it didn't shoot at him. Bee was grateful; at least human lives weren't being put in jeopardy.

After a few more minutes, Bee reached the school. He pulled up through the side and raced to the back of it. Students were running around the field. Inwardly kicking himself, he spun around on the grass, only to find that the vehicle had followed him onto the grass. It stopped inches from his face, before transforming. Bee heard the students screaming and racing for the doors as the face of Knock-Out appeared from the transformation.

"Well, if it isn't Bumblebee!" Knock-Out scoffed. Reluctantly, Bee decided to follow suite and transformed as well. As he finished returning to robot mode, a shrill female voice caught their attention.

"YOU IDIOTS!"

A girl raced towards them. Some other humans were yelling at her, but she ignored them. A backpack hung from her shoulders, and as she reached them, Bee could see the rage on her face. Bee began to beep in defense.

"I don't care whose fault it was!" the girl shrieked. "You should never have left the yard!"

"You've got quite an attitude for a fleshling," Knock-Out noted with a smirk.

"And you'll get more of it if you don't shut up and listen to me," she replied, "The cops will be here in minutes. If we don't get out of here now, you'll never leave. At least I got to you before you started to battle. Do you have any idea about what could happen if one of you gets hurt here?" She adjusted a part of her sleeve, revealing the massive black watch. She looked down at it sadly.

"I promised myself that I'd never use this again," she murmured. Bumblebee wondered why she had made such a promise, but ignored it and beeped in sympathy instead. This caused her to shake her head in resolve.

"You're right; I suppose we have no other choice." Turning to the Knock-Out, she introduced herself. "Now. Name's CJ. Who are you?"

"Knock-Out." The red robot replied.

"Should have known." CJ pushed a few buttons on her watch, "I might as well explain what's going on as the portal readies itself. You and the other robots that were in the desert were scattered to different dimensions. We have to get you all back to your dimension, or you're all kaput. The more of your friends that we find, the more time we have." The watch beeped, and CJ looked down at it. "So, you have to cooperate, because if anything bad happens, you risk your dimension, and yourselves."

Knock-Out looked reluctant, but finally nodded a sigh of agreement. He didn't want to take any chances. These humans looked very different from the ones he knew, in any case. They were more defined and detailed.

CJ hit another button on her watch. "I managed to locate a dimension with one of your friends inside. We leave immediately." A green and blue portal opened, bigger than the massive robots themselves.

"I guess you could call this a kind of Ground Bridge," she grinned. "Now move. We don't have much time."

The two robots obeyed, and after a few seconds of staring back at shocked students and teachers, she followed them into the portal. It vanished as the sound of sirens came into earshot.


	5. Chapter 4: Accidental Transformation

The three of them exited the portal and found themselves in a lush green park. No humans were around, as it was nighttime. A pond sat on their left as the entrance loomed ahead of them. Knock-Out turned to the other two with a smirk.

"Well, I hate to trick and run," he told them as he transformed into vehicle mode, "But I must be going now." He drove away, the glares of the remaining two aimed at his fleeing form.

"Argh… that idiot!" CJ stamped her foot. Bumblebee looked down at her and beeped.

"Yeah, you're right; we'll get him later," she sighed, "At least he's here. Anyway, for now, we need to find out which dimension we're in. And who's here."

Beep?

"I tracked an energy signal, but I didn't have time to look up the coordinates, and the signal was too messed up for me to tell who it was."

Bee nodded fretfully, before letting out a flurry of electronic noises, ending with a question.

"Not to worry; even if the humans in this dimension are different, I can disguise myself." She pressed a few buttons on her watch. "It uses special technology to alter DNA and give me the appearance of whatever I choose."

Beep! Beep beep beep beep!

"I don't need a kitchen sink. I have hand sanitizer installed into this thing."

Bee simply gawked at her as the center of the watch extended, and CJ hit it back down. The watch let off a high-pitched wail, and a flash of light blinded him. When it cleared, CJ was gone. He looked around, but didn't see anything.

**(A/N: Italics from here are speech)**

_Did it work?_

He looked down at hearing the strange voice, and saw something shocking: a bright pink brain with many arms, one of which had the watch strapped to it.

…Beep beep beep!

CJ answered with a flurry of gargles. _What do you mean 'I'm a brain'?_

Bee transformed into vehicle mode and let her look into his side mirror. Her brown eyes widened at what she saw.

_Ah, crud._

Beep beep?

_Yeah, I can fix it, just let me–_ She attempted to hit one of the buttons in order to repeat the sequence, but the watch didn't respond.

_Well,_ she sighed,_ it appears that the watch was damaged by a dimensional bolt during transport. I'll have to get someone to fix it, as I am not strong enough like this to return to normal. And apparently I can't speak English._

Beep… Beep beep beep?

_No, no,_ she told him quickly, _It's fine. Besides, at least I know where we are now. There's someone here who can fix it without the possibility of it breaking in his hands. No offense._

Bee beeped, once in relief and another in reassurance, before opening one of the doors and allowing CJ to hop inside. The two of them then engaged in a very intellectual conversation:

Gargle gargle.

Beep. Beep beep beep, beep beep?

Gargle… gargle squeal gargle.

Beep beep beep.

Squee?

Beep. Beep, beep beep!

Growl squeal.

Beep… beep?

Gargle!

Beep bleep beep.

Growl…

Beep.

Growl squee?

Beep beep!

Squee!

After a bit more driving and… intelligent conversation, Bee pulled into an alley and let CJ out, before transforming into robot mode.

_So all you have to do it remove this manhole cover, and I'll handle everything from there._

Bee nodded. Beep beep?

_I'll be fine. There shouldn't be any issues._ (A/N: How many of you are going 'yeah, right' right now?)

Bee looked skeptical, but removed the manhole cover as CJ had told him. She slipped onto the first rung of a ladder, and, with a wave, climbed down into the sewers. Bee looked down as she descended into the darkness, his blue eyes filled with worry. He proceeded to return the manhole cover to its original spot and transformed over it to avoid any suspicion.

CJ heard the mechanical noises as she reached the final rung. She began to think to herself as she struggled through the sewers.

**(A/N: Italics from here are thoughts unless otherwise mentioned.)**

_Note to self, make sure the watch works before you use it._

CJ bit her lip, cringing slightly as the sharp teeth grazed the bottom of her mouth.

_So let's see… I have no idea where I am or where I'm going… but I have to find them, or else I'll be stuck like this. Not a good option._

The progress was slow, but thankfully the manhole that she had entered wasn't far from where she needed to be. With a few more painful strides, she found herself in the home of the enemies of the species that she was disguised as at the moment: the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. She didn't expect a warm reception, to stay the least.

The lair was silent; not unusual, as it was night and they were probably on patrol. But she feared that their father, Master Splinter, would detect her presence and attack her. Nothing moved as she made her way across the lair. CJ looked around, eyes wide. It was as awesome as she had expected.

_Now I just have to find Donatello… if they don't find me first. Because I'm pretty sure that if they do, I'm not going to enjoy the experience._

CJ struggled to turn herself around. _Need to get to higher ground._ She spotted the kitchen table only a few feet away. Using her most powerful arms, she pulled herself forwards and climbed up the leg of the table. Once she reached the top, panting, she was able to see that the lair was, indeed, empty. Or at least the room she could see was empty. Turning around, she was surprised to find herself face to face with a turtle. It stared blankly back at her.

_Oh... you must be Spike!_ she told it, before smacking herself in the face. _Yeah, you can't understand me, can you? Oh, well. You're really cute though._

With a kind smile unsuited for a Kraang, she used one of her arms to stroke the back of Spike's shell. He simply looked at her, calm and unfazed by her presence.

_You're just adorable!_ CJ gurgled at him, _You know, I never thought that I'd be able to meet you. I wonder when the others will be getting back._

A small gasp caused her to freeze, arm on shell. Slowly, she looked back fearfully. The room was still empty.

_Well that's odd… maybe if I keep stroking Spike they'll know I mean no harm._

Her face maintained its fearful expression, but she continued to stroke the turtle. Spike allowed the petting to continue as he turned and began munching on a leaf.

_Nothing's flown out and hit me yet... I suppose that's a good sign… Maybe I was just hearing things. That _does_ seem to happen to me fairly often. It must have been Master Splinter._

CJ relaxed a bit as the minutes ticked by and everything was silent. She never stopped stroking the turtle, who soon turned and looked at her in such an adorable way that she nearly squealed.

_You are so CUTE!_ CJ grinned, going closer. _I just have to hug you!_

She dragged herself over to Spike's side and gave him a hug, closing her eyes as her face pressed against the small turtle's shell. She was careful to only hug the shell. It would have looked quite funny if anyone had seen it. Spike simply ignored her as she hugged him. CJ wondered if he'd ever been hugged before.

"What the –!"

A voice shattered the moment. CJ froze once more; her eyes snapping open as she heard the anger in the voice. That was definitely not Splinter. She looked over at the entrance of the lair. There, eyes blazing with shock and fury, stood Raphael. The hothead, in a swift movement, armed himself with his Sai as he glared at her.

_Ah crud._

"Step away from the turtle," Raph growled. CJ slowly slid away from Spike, who focused only on his leaf. Once Spike was out of danger, Raph pounced at her. She squealed as she was thrown against the wall, nearly missing the Sai. She squirmed under the table before Raph could reach her. By this time, the other turtles had arrived. They stared at Raph in confusion as he shouted under the table. Finally he explained his actions.

"There's a Kraang under our kitchen table!"


	6. Chapter 5: Infiltrate and Reveal

Whoa! Haven't updated in awhile! Sorry guys! Got a lot done, though! Here ya go!

* * *

Leo didn't know what to expect after he reached the lair. First, April had told him to come home immediately because of an emergency. Then, he walked in to find Raph screaming at the underside of their table, with Spike on top eating his leaf. Don and Mikey soon came in behind him, and Leo cleared his throat to get Raph's attention. The hothead finally looked up from his yelling and explained himself.

"There's a Kraang under our kitchen table!"

The three other brothers exchanged shocked looks, before rushing forward to see if it was true. Sure enough, a terrified looking brain cowered under the table, staring up at them. It began to gurgle some noises, but stayed frozen, out of their reach.

"How'd a Kraang get in here?" Don began to panic, "And where's April?!"

"I don't know the answer to either of those," Leo replied, taking command, "But I do know that we can't let it leave."

The Kraang squealed in fright at that. Mikey simply stared at it as the others continued discussing what they should do. He then went to join them.

"If it gets out of here then we'll have to leave our home. The Kraang will be here in minutes," Raph noted, agreeing with Leo for once. "On the plus side, if all the Kraang already knew where we were, there'd be others hanging around."

"But maybe we could make a communicator and get some information out of it," Donnie suggested.

"Well, it got in here somehow. It's not going anywhere," Leo muttered.

"You guys?" Mikey looked back at the spot where the Kraang had been cowering. "It's gone."

"Really?" Raph moaned, "You've got to be kidding me."

"There it is!" Donnie gestured toward his work desk. The Kraang had managed to get on top of the table and was attempting to grab a pencil. It grumbled in frustration as the pencil continued to slip out of its grasp. Raph rushed towards it and threw it against the wall. It squealed in pain as it made contact with the hard surface. The brain stayed there for a moment, but before the laws of gravity could take effect, Raph had slammed his hand into it and put his Sai to its face, holding it against the wall.

"If you _ever_ go near Spike again…" he hissed.

His brothers suddenly realized why the hothead was so furious. The Kraang had been near Spike. It was then that Mikey voiced what no one else had noticed.

"Aren't their eyes green?" he wondered.

"What are you talking about?" Don sighed in exasperation.

"Well, look at this brain-thing." He gestured for Leo and Don to follow, and they went around to the left side of Raph.

"See? Its eyes are brown. Not green," Mikey explained excitedly.

"I highly doubt eye colour really makes a difference in whether it's a member of the Kraang or not," Leo tried to be patient. As he and Mikey argued, the Kraang bit Raph's hand, which caused the red-clad turtle to whip his hand in surprise. It landed near Mikey and latched onto his ankle. The youngest, in panic, began to run around the room screaming.

"Use your nunchucks!" Leo called, rolling his eyes.

"Oh yeah!" Mikey stopped freaking out and grabbed his weapons, but before he could attempt to whack the Kraang off of his ankle he realized that it was shivering. Mikey, being the kind-hearted and somewhat stupid turtle that he was, stared at it as the alien looked up into his eyes. He didn't see any of what he usually saw in the brown eyes that stared back at him, and he saw forgiveness in them as well. No hostility, no anger, no evil. Just kindness.

"What are you doing?!" Raph hissed incredulously, "Go ninja on its lack of butt!"

Mikey ignored him, and got on one knee to stare at the brain that was attached to his ankle at the moment. "Aww… poor little dude," This earned him a glare. "Oh, you're a girl? My bad… uh… dudette." The Kraang nodded, which looks pretty ridiculous when your entire body was your whole head. "You must be pretty scared, what with mean ole Raphie running around trying to hurt you." Mikey stuck out his hand, and the Kraang looked at it. His brothers just stared at him in disbelief.

"I think he's finally snapped," Leo stated, gawking.

"Mikey," Don spoke slowly, "That's… a… Kraang! The Kraang are our enemies! You don't stick your hand in your enemies face for them to smell it, or lower your weapons when they happen to be holding your friend's father hostage!"

"I think she's different," Mikey murmured as the Kraang slowly let go of its ankle and crawled onto his arm. "There ya go, girl," he smiled. The Kraang attempted to speak to him, but, eyes narrowing in irritation, smacked itself in the face. This was quite surprising for all of the turtles, as the Kraang in general didn't appear human enough to do something like that. It then pointed to the work desk that it had been on before Raph had flung it into the wall.

"Oh! You want to get to Donnie's work desk!" Mikey nodded.

"Okay, this has gone on long enough," Leo began to step forward, "We've got to get rid of this thing!"

"No!" Mikey yelled furiously. His brothers were taken aback, as they had never seen him so upset, and Leo froze in his tracks because of his shock.

"If she wants to show us something, then she's _going_ to show us something!" he hissed, placing the brain on Don's desk. It gurgled happily before attempting to pick up the same pencil that it had tried to get before. Mikey picked up the pencil for it, and the Kraang began to guide his hand in order for it to convey its message.

"Line here, okay… now a circle… another line… another circle? No, it's a line…"

When he had finished, the picture more or less resembled a car outside of a garage door.

"There's a car waiting for us outside?" Don wondered. The Kraang nodded. It then pointed one of its arms forward, revealing a watch that no one had noticed until now. With the other arm, it pointed to a button. Mikey nodded, and before his brothers could stop him, he pressed the button.

"NO!" they cried, but it was too late. The face of the watch popped up, and the brain made some noises into it, before closing the face and pointing to the picture again. Mikey, again not really thinking, picked up the brain and rushed to their garage, with the older turtles in hot pursuit.

When he reached the garage, Mikey quickly hit the button next to the entrance and caused the garage door to slowly begin opening. He walked forwards until he was in the middle of the room. The others stood a few feet behind him, close to the door in case something bad attacked them.

There, sitting outside their secret vehicle exit, was a yellow muscle car.

The brain squirmed out of Mikey's arms and crawled towards the vehicle as quickly as it could. It made some cheerful squeaking noises, but instead of approaching the door, it spoke, oddly enough, near the left headlight. The car made some electronic sounds in reply, and drove inside. Nodding, the Kraang turned and motioned for the door to be shut. Donatello nervously complied with the request. The moment the door had shut, the vehicle beeped once and began to change, gears grinding and parts shifting into what looked like a body. When the transformation was done, what was once a car was now a giant yellow robot.

"Oh man…" Leo gawked up at the robot, "If that's our enemy then this is not good."

"Of course it's our enemy!" Raph scowled, pointing at the Kraang, "It's working with that!"

"Metalhead was hard enough to beat!" Don fretted, "And it was shorter than us! Plus, I think this technology is even more advanced than the Kraang's!"

"Way to be encouraging, Donnie," Raph glared at the genius. The three of them readied their weapons. The robot, in reply, pointed two blasters in their direction.

"Guys, I don't think we need to worry," Mikey looked up at it, "I think it's just scared." The Kraang returned to his feet and pointed at the same button on the watch. Obeying, Mikey bent down and pressed it again. The face popped up, and the brain began to grumble into the watch once more. This time, a clear, normal, female voice rang out from the robot's arm communicator.

"Thank you, Michelangelo," the brain looked up at him, "Now that you can understand me… Donatello, I need you to reset some functions on my watch in order for me to rid myself of this disguise."

The weapon bearers were dumbstruck. Leo was the first to come out of his shock.

"H-how can you speak to us without a robot body?" he gawked.

"Simple. My watch is able to communicate with my robot friend here. He, in turn, can translate my garbled words into comprehensible speech. There were too many functions for someone who knew nothing about it to activate that ability on my own watch. No offense."

"None taken," Mikey grinned, giving her a thumbs-up.

"Now, Donatello, if you would be so kind as to reset the cloaking function on my watch I can give you a better explanation."

The genius exchanged looks with his leader and the hothead. "I guess we have no choice, or we get blasted to bits," Leo shrugged in defeat. Donnie sighed and went up to the brain, who held up her watch-clad arm. Donnie began to follow her orders, and soon he was done. He hit the cloak button on her watch, and a blast of light blinded them. When it faded, the Kraang was gone, and in its place stood a strange-looking human.

"Thank you, Donatello," the girl nodded, before closing her eyes and stretching with a smile. "Man… it's good to stretch! Having no legs totally cramped up my arms!"

When she opened them, she found that she was surrounded by Leo, Don, and Raph, with weapons pointed at her. Mikey had simply stayed in the place where he had been the entire time. "Talk," Leo hissed. "How'd you find us? And how did you know about us?"

"Chill," she dismissed their fierceness. "Why don't we just go chill inside and I'll explain everything. You can relax now, Bee."

The robot beeped before putting his blasters away and sitting down.

"Oh, no. We're not going anywhere until you tell us where you're from," Raph growled, still peeved about the whole issue with Spike.

"Alright, alright," the girl walked past them and leaned against the robot's leg.

"I suppose I should tell you my name first," she smirked, "I'm CJ, and this is Bumblebee, but you call him Bee."

Leo nodded, still not letting his guard down. "Alright… I'm-"

"Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo," She pointed to each of them in turn. "I know exactly who you are."


	7. Chapter 6: This is where it's confusing

"Yeah, we've been meaning to ask," Raph replied. "HOW!?"

"Simple. You guys are a popular TV show in my dimension."

At this, Leo and Raph exchanged looks and stepped off to the side a little ways as CJ continued to talk to Don and Mikey.

"I don't trust her," Raph stated plainly. "Remember when April's father was telling us how the Kraang are from another dimension?"

"That's what I'm worried about, too," Leo replied. "How do we know that she's not from their dimension?"

"Well, for one thing, the Kraang would have already known about you and your lair, and they would probably always know your every move as well."

Leo and Raph jumped back in shock. CJ had slipped up behind them without either of them seeing her and now stared smugly.

"How did you do that?" Leo gasped, his pulse racing.

"Eh, I have the uncanny ability to sneak up on people," she shrugged, "Now, if you'd be so kind as to return to the conversation, I can answer that question."

Don and Mikey smirked as the two older brothers walked back sheepishly.

"So as I was saying, the dimension I'm from has no Kraang, because they're part of your world."

"But… they're from a different dimension," Donnie blinked.

"Yes, but multiple dimensions can still be part of the same world," CJ told him, "From my dimension sprouts the ideas of yours, and they become reality here."

"So you mean," Leo's eyes lit up, "Space heroes have their own dimension too?!"

"I suppose so," CJ pondered this as Raph looked on in horror, "Of course, the science behind inter-dimensional transportation is very complex, and I don't want to bore you with the details of how it affects time and space…" Donnie looked a bit disappointed, "…mostly because I have a hard time understanding it myself, let alone explaining it. However, I can tell you how they all connect."

CJ began to explain some of the basic characteristics of how it worked, but by the time she had finished only two sentences, everyone, including Don, stared at her blankly.

"My brain hurts…" Mikey moaned, "I didn't get that at all…"

"There's a shock," Raph muttered.

CJ paused for a moment, thinking to herself. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "I've got it. Follow me."

Bee stayed behind to rest as CJ led the four turtles back into the kitchen. Mikey sat on a chair, and CJ sat next to him, while the other turtles stood. A full pizza rested on the table.

"Perfect," CJ opened the box, swatting Mikey's hand in order for her to visually display what she was trying to tell them.

"So my dimension is the original dimension," CJ explained, "Or the whole pizza. People in my dimension have ideas for entertainment, which can be divided into three categories: Literature, TV and movies, and video games, internet and computers. So you guys are one piece." She put a slice on a plate that was next to her. "The slice is the original idea. From there, you have the worlds, or smaller ideas," she removed pepperoni pieces from the slice and placed four around the piece of pizza. "Finally, within those worlds, there are dimensions that are only found there." She put two crumbs next to a pepperoni piece and Mikey, of all people, summarized what she had said.

"So you're saying a dude from your home came up with the original turtles idea –"

"Which happened to be a comic," she added.

"And from the original idea came our world."

"Yes," CJ praised him.

"And then…" Mikey went on slowly, "There are… like… sub-dimensions within our world? Like, ours and the Kraang's?"

"You got it!"

"How on earth did he _get_ all that?!" Don gawked.

"Mikey's smarter than you give him credit for," CJ emitted a kind smile and put a hand on his shoulder, "You just gotta speak his language!"

"Yeah, pizza!" Mikey gulped down a slice.

"It can get very confusing at times," she went on. "It would be easier to explain with a three-dimensional model, but these are the very basics of it."

"What are the other turtle dimensions like?" Leo asked.

"Well, the shows are classified as the 1987, the 2k3, and the 2012, which is this one. The last one would probably be the film dimension. That's not even including the different variations and whatnot. They're actually very similar to your world. Everyone just looks different. And then," she shuddered, "there are the fan dimensions, which can get pretty insane."

"Fan dimensions?" Don repeated.

"It's like people copy and paste a dimension, then alter it to their personal preference or insert their own characters. But it doesn't affect the original dimension they copied. Here, I'll show you." CJ got up and went to see Bumblebee for a moment, then returned with a laptop in her hands.

"I've designed my laptop to be able to get a signal from my home whenever I'm elsewhere," she explained as it turned on.

"So do many people do what you do?" Raph asked casually, petting Spike.

"As far as I know, I'm the only 'Dimension-Hopper', as I call myself. There are many ways to get to another dimension, but most can't be controlled. I'm the only one who has a watch, as far as I'm aware."

"Why don't you go to other dimensions and ask?" Leo wondered.

"Because I can't access fan dimensions unless I've been given permission, and the coordinates," she shrugged, "I've tried. There are also original dimensions that people make that live in their own world. I can't access those, either. But for dimensions like yours, I've developed the copy/paste system, because if people start throwing their characters and ideas into the actual dimension, everything can get pretty whacked. So I go around and fix any messes in the real dimensions, and other people can still have their fantasies. It can get quite interesting at times."

As CJ entered her password, it was Mikey's turn to pose a question.

"So how many dimensions have you made?"

"Five, but three were pretty close together, so I merged them."

"You can do that?" Leo was in awe.

"Only if it's my own original one."

"How do you make a dimension?" Don asked.

"People usually start with a character, and then develop setting and everything. Like a television show."

"So you could just think up a character and they're real," Raph stated in disbelief.

"Only if they're characters for a dimension that already exists. If they're for an uncreated dimension, they have to not only be completely developed, with a background, personality, home, everything, but the whole new dimension has to be made first. _Then_ they're real."

"That's messed up," Raph replied, "On a different note, why were you near Spike?"

"I wanted to pet him, then I gave him a hug," CJ replied simply, "He's just so cute I couldn't resist."

"Oh."

"Here we go," CJ motioned towards the screen, and the brothers gathered around them.

"There are female turtles?" Leo blushed, staring at some of the fan-made characters.

"Like I said, in copies of your dimensions."

"Look at all the mutants…" Mikey murmured. "Hey, an alligator!"

"Now this guy is not a fan-made character. He's actually the 2k3 version of Leatherhead."

"Cool…" Mikey grinned.

"So all of these characters are our friends in other dimensions?" Raph wanted to know, "And we can trust them?"

"Yes," CJ confirmed confidently, "They're known as OCs, or Original Characters."

CJ scrolled down a little bit more, but, after seeing one of the pictures, she quickly closed the web browser. Thankfully none of the turtles had seen that.

_Urgh… pairings…_ she shuddered.

"Anyway, that's pretty much it," she shut the computer off, "But I should probably tell you why I'm here."

"Yeah, we've been wondering that," Leo admitted with a grin.

"Long story short, as I'll probably be telling this a lot throughout this adventure…" Faintly, a crack could be heard. "Bee and his friends got teleported to different dimensions and we have to get them back to their own dimension before it caves in on itself and they cease to exist. Basically the reason why I have to fix things, since I don't want dimensions collapsing all over the place."

The four turtles gawked at her.

"That's awful!" A voice whispered. Five heads turned, but it was just April, coming from the training room.

"Oh, hey April," Leo greeted. The redhead came into the room.

"Did you catch the Kraang?" she questioned.

"'Sup," CJ waved.

"That was _you_?" she gasped in disbelief.

"Name's CJ."

"I heard everything, except what happened in the garage. Which probably explains why I didn't know that she was the Kraang."

"Cloaking device," CJ pointed to her watch.

"Yeah, kinda figured that out. I mean, they weren't attacking you so I figured that you weren't a threat. When I first saw you, I called the bros, but when I noticed you were petting Spike, I thought you were kind of different, so I went back to train with Splinter once you guys arrived. So who's Bee?"

"Oh, Bumblebee?" CJ pointed to the garage, "Giant robot known as an Autobot."

"Good to know," April looked extremely confused, but remained silent. "I should probably head home. I'm exhausted. Splinter trained me very hard tonight."

"'Night, April," the brothers called as she left.

"Too much brain-hurting for one night," Michelangelo yawned after she had left, "I'm gonna get some sleep."

"Me too," Leonardo followed the youngest, "Today was exhausting."

"CJ," Donatello began, "Do you mind if I take a look at Bee? I'd really like to examine the technology."

"You'd have to ask him. But be careful."

Don nodded and went to the garage. "What about you?" CJ looked at Raphael.

"Eh, I'm gonna get to bed, I guess," Raph shrugged. "Feel free to sleep on the couch if you're staying."

"Thank you, that's very kind. Inter-dimensional transport can be a bit rough on the stomach."

"I can't relate." Raph let Spike climb onto his shoulder and left the kitchen.

"Night, Bee!"

Beep beep!

"Don't stay up too late, Don."

"Fine…

CJ stretched as she sat down on the couch. Curling up, she removed her black sweater and used it as a pillow, straightened her red t-shirt, and went to sleep.


	8. Chapter 7: Joyride fiasco

CJ awoke with a start. She had heard something, and it had jarred her from her sleep. She checked her watch.

_4:37 am_.

Sitting up, she looked around. A blanket covered her, and she figured that Don had put it on her when he had finished examining Bumblebee.

With a sigh, she sat up.

_Well, I'm not going to be able to sleep now…_ she thought to herself with a moan, _Might as well check on Bee._

The Autobot was sound asleep. CJ was glad, as he had had a very stressful day. She was about to go back to the couch when she noticed that the garage door was slightly open.

Raph stood on the corner of a roof of a building a couple hundred metres from his home. Looking down, he smiled as he spotted what he had come for.

"There you are, gorgeous," he smirked with a whisper.

"Sorry I'm late, there was something back at the lair. I tried to come as quickly as I could."

The only thing that met him was silence.

"I missed you. Hope you stayed out of trouble."

He fell silent as he stared at the beauty below. As he looked down, he suddenly felt a chill go down his spine. Looking behind him, a figure was leaning on the water tower a few feet away.

"Raph."

"Oh," he blushed, "It's you, CJ. When did you get here?"

"Just now." He couldn't see her face, partly because of her being in the shadows and partly because of her hood. "For a ninja, you sure are sloppy. You left the garage door open."

He inwardly hit himself. "My bad. What are you doing here?"

"Just needed some air. Something woke me up. I suppose that was you." She gestured toward his hand; in it, he held a helmet.

"Going for a ride?" She walked up and stood next to him.

"I wanted some air, as well. Hero boy was being especially annoying."

"I'm going to head back to the lair, then," she turned and began to head in the opposite direction. "Have fun."

Raph said nothing as CJ left. He watched her hop across the buildings, and when she vanished he looked back down into the alley.

"What say you and I go for a ride?"

He jumped down silently, putting on his helmet as he fell. There, waiting for him, sat a motorcycle, shining in the moonlight. It was silver, blue, and red.

"Hope you didn't think I forgot about you," Raph smiled, "Because I wouldn't."

He carefully removed the motorcycle from where it rested between two trash cans. He had discovered it a few days ago, and was surprised that it was still here, and hadn't been stolen. He hadn't risked bringing it back to the lair. Instead, he came here every night after patrol to take his girl out.

With a grin, he slid onto the motorcycle and revved the engine. "Time to ride."

He pulled out of the alley with a screech, right after a red sports car raced by. A red light shone brightly a few hundred metres away, and Raph screeched to a halt next to the car. He had no idea that said car was empty, and cringed as he realized how exposed he was. The light turned green, and he raced off. Checking out the side mirror, he watched as the car stayed at the light for a few seconds, before screeching out and barreling towards him.

Raph bit his lip, realizing that he had just possibly put his family in danger. He zigzagged through the streets. If he could lose the car, he just might be able to get home without any more issues. However the car was resilient; no matter how many twists and turns he made he just couldn't shake it. What made the chase that much irritating was the constant grinding metal that came from the red sports car.

_This is really starting to tick me off…_

With a move that only an expert could pull, he suddenly jerked the motorcycle into an alley too small for most vehicles. The car screeched to a halt, the door perpendicular to the alley, before it raced off.

He maneuvered his way through the alleys, only sticking to the ones that were small enough to forbid cars from using them. After about half an hour, he managed to make it back to the base without incident.

Raph rolled the bike into the garage as quietly as he could, and, bringing it to the wall, hit the kickstand.

"Enjoy your ride?"

With a gasp, he spun around. CJ sat on top of Bumblebee's shoulder, who happened to be awake, and they both stared down at him.

"If you tell Sensei or my brothers–"

"We already know."

Raph spun once more at the furious voice. Leo glared at him, with Master Splinter behind him, even angrier, if that was possible. Donnie stood behind them both, disappointed. Mikey wasn't there; he was probably still asleep.

"Ah, crud."

"How could you do this, Raph?!" Leo demanded, hurt, "Putting our family in danger like this after everything we've been through together–!"

"Hey, no one ever saw me!" he defended himself, "Except for that red sports car. Took me nearly an hour to lose it."

Leo face-palmed in frustration. "Great," he muttered, "How long have you been doing this?"

"Right after I found her in the alleys a few nights ago," Raph told him coolly, "It was my way of relaxing after dealing with you three all day," he explained, staring pointedly at Leo, and then at Don.

Leo looked at him in shock as Splinter took over the scolding. "I am very disappointed in you, Raphael," he growled, "Not only have you disobeyed my order to never go to the surface alone without my permission, _multiple times_, I might add, you have been seen by a human. Possibly more."

CJ felt that it was necessary to step in at this point. "I wouldn't be so sure about that." She gestured towards the bike that Donatello was now examining. "If the red car that saw and chased you is the one I think it is, then we have nothing to worry about, technically speaking."

"Why do you say that?" Leo asked, irritated.

"The car was most likely the Decepticon I told you about, Knock-Out, because that motorcycle is none other than Arcee."

Bee stared at her before realizing what she said was the truth. He beeped rapidly in excitement.

"It's almost five in the morning, so I highly doubt anyone would have seen him. Even if they did, he would have been going too fast for anyone to tell that he was a turtle, anyway."

"Plus, most of the time I spent on the bike tonight was in the alleys, to lose the car after it had been following me for half an hour," Raph added defiantly.

"You are to go to the training room immediately," Splinter ordered the hothead. "You are to practise until I arrive."

Grumbling to himself, Raph left the room in anger.

"Don't be too hard on him, Master Splinter," CJ attempted to sooth the rat, "He just wanted some time to himself. And he _did_ find Arcee."

"You may have a point, but he did disobey me," Splinter told her, "Speaking of 'you', who exactly are you?"

CJ grinned and quickly told him the story, introducing herself and Bumblebee, who let her onto the floor of the garage in order for her to take a look at Arcee.

"Arcee, you're safe now," CJ knocked on the motorbike, but got no response. "Nothing. You try, Bee."

Bumblebee made some electronic beeps at the motorcycle, but again, only silence answered him. He then told something to CJ, who nodded.

"Bee says that she's unconscious, and probably pretty damaged."

"I'd offer to help," Don turned to her, "But I don't think my knowledge would be of much benefit here."

"Well, you did take a look at Bee," CJ reasoned, "If we could get her conscious again, that would be a start."

Donnie nodded and went to get his tool kit. CJ let out a sigh, catching the attention of Leo and Splinter.

"I'd try and get Knock-Out here, but I think he'd end up doing more harm than good. That egotistic robot wouldn't listen to reason."

Bee let out a flurry of beeps.

"If our only hope is Starscream, then we're in trouble."

Beep beep beep beep beep!

"I agree, tricking him might be the best option. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, I suppose."

Beep beep. Beep beep beep?

"We'll head out after Arcee regains consciousness, I suppose. The sooner we find the others, the sooner we can get her to Ratchet. In the meantime, I'll get the watch to scan for any signals of your friends. Arcee could be the only one here." Looking up, she saw that Splinter had left, and so had Leo; most likely they were going to give Raph a training session that he wouldn't soon forget. In their place stood Michelangelo, bleary eyed and yawning.

"Wha'd I miss…" he mumbled.

"Raph got busted taking a motorcycle out for joyrides," Don replied, not looking up from Arcee.

"Duuuude…" Mikey suddenly woke up. "Why didn't you wake me?! I bet Leo and Sensei were _ticked_. Not often that it's not me who gets in trouble."

"They were. And besides, you're a heavy sleeper. I got up half an hour ago."

Mikey stared at his older brother. "Dude, what is _wrong_ with you?" He then noticed CJ in the corner. "Oh, hey CJ. What's going on?"

"The motorcycle Raph took for 'joyrides' is actually an Autobot named Arcee. Don's trying to fix her."

"Cool! Speaking of Raph, though, did you bust him?" Mikey looked at her eagerly.

"No, Leo woke on his own, came to check on Bee and I, and saw that the garage door was open. So he went and checked on you guys, saw that Raph was gone, and woke Splinter and Donnie. While he was doing that, I came back from outside, because something had woke me up and so I went to investigate. It turned out that I saw Raph on a rooftop, alone, but I never tried to stop him from whatever it was he was doing, and went back to the lair. Then I woke Bee, as he had told me he wanted to wake up early. Leo got suspicious when he saw me, but I never said anything. I guess your brother thought I had been kidnapped or something. So Leo began looking around for any sign of a struggle and saw that Raph's helmet was gone too, so he knew he wasn't abducted or anything. Then we just waited for him to show up. Leo had no clue that I was out. I suppose that Leo figured that Raph was looking for me, and was starting to get angry with me when he saw me with Bee, but then Raph came and everything's history."

"Whoa. He's so gonna get it."

"I feel bad though," CJ sighed, "I mean, if I had just shut the door and went back to bed, Raph wouldn't be in trouble."

"Yeah, but then you wouldn't have known about Arcee," Donnie reasoned. "On a side note, she's looking pretty good. It looks like her wheels might have seized up and stopped working if Raph hadn't gone out every night and taken her for a spin. She'd be in a much worse condition, in any case. She might not have been able to work again. So don't blame yourself, CJ."

"I still feel guilty. I'm going to go see if I can reason with Leo and Splinter; maybe I can get him out of punishment."

Donatello and Michelangelo exchanged looks of unease.

"You sure about that?" Mikey asked.

"Yes," CJ nodded with resolution, "Plus, my adorability is useful in these types of situations." She winked at them as she walked off.

"She's not as cute as April," Donnie shook his head, before slapping a hand over his mouth in horror. Mikey smirked at him, but, for once, decided to let it slide. For now, that is.

"I don't know, dude," the orange turtle replied, "I think April might have some competition. Besides, you're biased."

"I didn't think you even knew that word."

"That's why I'm the wild one. 'Cuz you never know what's coming!"

"That's for sure…"


	9. Chapter 8: Raph's punishment

The five teens sat around eating pizza while waiting for April to show up.

"I still can't even believe you managed to pull that off," Raph grinned at CJ. "Trying to get me out of punishment like that… you're amazing."

"Yeah, well, don't expect a break next time," Leo growled, "It's not going to happen again."

Raph and CJ exchanged a wink. "Blah blah blah, Leo," CJ smirked at him, "I'm too cute to resist and you know it."

"If Sensei hadn't given in I would never had said yes."

"You _so_ gave in first. You even helped me to convince him a little bit!"

Raph leaned back and sighed. "I totally owe you one," he replied, "I would have been in training until I was old."

"And all it cost was an arm and a leg," CJ nodded, flopping an empty sweater sleeve onto Mikey's shoulder. He gawked at it and screamed, before running away, nearly knocking Don's pizza from his plate.

"Mikey, I'm kidding!" CJ called after him, sticking her arm back in her sleeve. The others were in hysterics.

"Dude, that was _not_ funny!" Mikey pouted.

"Yeah, yeah it was!" Raph howled.

"Okay, wait wait wait," Don held up his hand for silence. "I still don't get _how_ you managed to convince Leo _and_ Master Splinter to let Raph off the hook."

"Well, he's not completely off the hook… But okay, I'll tell you. So first, I went to see Leo. He was brooding outside the training room and –"

"I was _not_ brooding!"

"Shush! Yes you were! You were so mad that you couldn't see or hear what was going on. Anyway, I went to Leo first…"

[FLASHBACK]

[CJ'S POV]

_So I went to the training room, and Leo was sitting outside the door, waiting for Splinter to call him in. I sat down next to him and asked him, straight out, if he'd help me let Raph off the hook. He stares at me and then just starts laughing. Then he says to me:_

_"I can't even believe you'd ask me that!"_

_"Well, why not?" I ask, confused._

_"Splinter's _not_ letting him off the hook after something like this. He put our family in jeopardy."_

_"As much as I'd love to see you guys on Jeopardy," Leo didn't get the reference, by the way, "Raph just needed an out. Sometimes destroying a punching bag or talking to your pet turtle doesn't exactly solve all your problems."_

_"I get that, but that's still no reason –"_

_"Have you seen any news articles on giant turtles on motorcycles?"_

_"…No."_

_"Have you had people scouring the sewers looking for teen mutants?"_

_"…No…"_

_"Has he gone without a helmet or stayed out long?"_

_"…"_

_"What was that?"_

_"…No…"_

_"So technically you've got nothing to worry about."_

_"But there could have been someone who saw him!"_

_"_Could have been._ But there wasn't. There's no point in worrying about something that didn't happen."_

_"Still. I'm not going to bail him out."_

_This is when I looked at him with my puppy dog eyes. And I stared at him for a few minutes for good measure._

_"Pleeeease, Leooooo? For me?"_

_Leo sighed and shot me a weak smile. "Argh… Fine. I'll help you convince Splinter…"_

_It was around this time that Splinter called Leo to come in. So we both got up and I followed him inside. Raph was sitting at the base of your tree, looking dejected._

_"Yes, CJ? Is there something I can help you with?"_

_"Please don't punish Raphael, Splinter," I begged him._

_"And why would you request that of me?"_

_So I told him all the things that I had said to Leo._

_"He found Arcee, way sooner than we would have been able to. Knock-Out might have gotten to her first, and then who knows what might have happened?"_

_"Nevertheless, he still disobeyed me, and that must be taken into account."_

_"I understand that. But Donatello was telling me that she's looking pretty good, and if Raph hadn't gone for a ride every night, she'd be in a much worse condition. She might never have been able to work again. Plus, he knew that you'd say no, and so he went and did it because he didn't want to get the rejection."_

_"You know I will still punish him."_

_"That makes perfect sense; he did disobey you."_

_"Raphael. Stand up."_

_Raph had been ignoring the whole conversation, so he was surprised to see me. But that couldn't compare to the shock of what happened next._

_"As punishment for disobeying me, you will not go to the surface on patrol for a week, and you will train and clean instead of relaxing."_

_Raph nodded. I'm guessing he was glad that his punishment wasn't anything worse._

_"And…" Splinter continued, "You will help Donatello nurse Arcee back to health."_

_Raph was looking at Splinter, stunned, before nodding again in acceptance._

[END FLASHBACK]

"So that's what happened," CJ finished.

"Dude, that's so cool," Mikey was in awe.

"It's not like I was trying to let him get away scot-free," CJ replied, shooting a look at Raph with a smirk, "I just didn't want him to be in _too_ much trouble."

"In all honesty, CJ," came a voice from behind them, "You're words did not influence me."

The five of them spun around in surprise. Splinter looked down at them. "I had already made my decision. I had just decided to let you vouch for my son."

"I apologize for interfering," CJ looked down at the ground.

"Do not be concerned about it," Splinter smiled at her, "You simply did not want to see your friend in trouble. I was the same when I was a boy."

"Did you take the rap for one of your friends?" Mikey asked.

"Yes," Splinter nodded, "In truth, for our enemy. He broke a priceless family heirloom that belonged to his mother, and I accepted the punishment for him."

"Wow…" Raph murmured. Splinter's sharp gaze suddenly focused on him.

"Shouldn't you be training?"

Raph gulped. "Hai, Sensei." The hothead rushed off quickly, his father's gaze burning into his shell. Splinter then turned towards the other four.

"He will not be joining you for patrol tonight. You may take April with you and let her learn by experience."

The remaining brothers nodded, before Splinter turned to the other person in the room.

"Would you like to join them?"

"No thank you, Splinter," CJ shook her head, "I've decided it would be best for me to stay here and keep an eye on Arcee, in case she wakes up. Bee won't be going either."

Beep beep?!

"No, Bee! We still don't know if the trans-dimensional portal has affected you yet. Besides, you can help me look after Arcee."

"What about you?" Donnie began going into doctor mode as Splinter turned and headed to the training room, "How are you feeling?"

"Don't worry about me, Don," CJ rolled her eyes, "Honestly, I've done this so much, I'm completely used to it," She then muttered under her breath, "Or at least, I used to."

"Did you say something, CJ?" Leo looked over at her.

"Nope!" At that moment, April arrived. CJ was relieved that the matter was dropped, as it was not something she wanted to talk about.

"Hey guys, and girl," April greeted, "What's up?"

"Saturday morning breakfast pizza?" Mikey offered.

"I'm good," April grinned, "Say, where's Raph?"

"Training," Donnie explained, "Long story."

"I'm going to go check on Arcee," CJ stood up and headed towards the garage.

"Arcee?"

"Another long story," This time it was Leo who responded.

"I've only been gone for like… ten hours!"

"And you're surprised?" Don smirked.

"Not really, no."

Mikey began to launch into a slightly exaggerated version of what had happened the night before, with Don and Leo correcting him wherever necessary.

Arcee, as expected, was still unconscious. CJ began to confer with Bumblebee.

"I suppose that she's been unconscious for a while… If she had woken up before we got here then she wouldn't have stayed in that alley. And she would have transformed by now."

Beep beep beep… beep beep?

"Well, you tell me."

Beep beep beep!

"That's good… if her energy signal is strong then at least she's in a fairly good condition."

Beep beep beep beep.

"I might have to say coma. You came flying out of that portal pretty hard, and you had few blocks to slow down. If I had to guess, I say she flew out of a portal and straight into the alley wall… thus equalling no time for braking, since the alleys are so narrow. But she could simply be out of it… I suppose we'll just have to wait and see."

Beep…

"She'll be fine, Bee," CJ reassured him, "I'm sure of it. My watch will be done scanning this dimension in a few days... three at most. Then, I'll try to locate another signal, somewhere else."

Beep beep beep?

"Yeah, we'll probably be here for a week again. But hey, finding Arcee gives us more time to find the others."

Beep?

"Yeah. The more we find, the more time we have."

Beep beep!

They fell silent as they listened to the brothers tell the story, with Michelangelo constantly getting interrupted and corrected by Donatello. Leonardo was laughing as he heard Mikey's rendition.

"So Raph came in on his motorcycle –"

"He walked it in, Mikey."

"And then he was all like… 'I'm so much more awesome than you'!"

"_You weren't even there!_"

"So CJ felt bad because she had forced Raph to get punished and wanted to convince Master Splinter and Leo to change their minds…"

"She didn't force him to do anything."

"And then CJ went to go face off with Leonardo –"

"No… she went to _convince_ Leo to help her!"

Bee and CJ were chuckling as they listened to Mikey's story getting crazier and Don's corrections becoming more irritated.

"And then there was an alligator pit, and a smokescreen… and… and… a flamethrower!"

"_There was no flamethrower!_"

Bee continued to laugh, but CJ had stopped abruptly at 'flamethrower'. She looked as if she was going to cry.

Beep beep?

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm… I'm going to go take a nap…" she yawned, trying her best not to burst into tears, "I'm just exhausted."

Beep beep beep.

CJ walked out of the room, with Bee watching her leave anxiously, and found a good spot to curl up: on top of an empty bean bag chair.

"Hey, CJ?" Leo attempted to tell her that that was Raph's chair, but she was already asleep, her face buried into the chair. To add to the picture, Spike happened to be on top of the chair, and he nearly fell when she collapsed onto it. With a sigh, he picked up Spike, against his better judgement and love of his bones, and carried him to the kitchen table. He didn't want anything to happen to the little guy; Raph had been through enough within the last twelve hours.

"So what's on the agenda for tonight?" April asked quietly.

"Just patrol," Don told her.

"Hey, do you want to meet Arcee?" Mikey offered, "She's a motorcycle."

"Sure!" Mikey led her to the garage, which irritated Don, as he had wanted to show her Arcee.

"Of all the things we've been through…" Leo interrupted the genius' fuming, "this has to be one of the most interesting." He watched CJ thoughtfully, curled up in a ball, sleeping soundly. If he hadn't been thinking so much he might have noticed the tiny sob, muffled by the fabric.


	10. Chapter 9: Karaoke

"Oh... man that was a good nap."

"Nice to see that you're finally awake."

"Raph? How long have I been out?"

"A couple hours. It's five now."

"Five?! I've been asleep all day?!"

"Yeah."

CJ sat up with a stretch. "Where are the others?"

"They're in the training room. Bee's asleep, and Arcee's still out."

"So you're cleaning."

"Yeah," He looked down disdainfully at the broom in his hands "Thanks for sticking up for me, by the way."

"No problem."

"Hey, speaking of problems, are you okay? You're face seems a bit red."

"Yeah, just… tired."

Raph looked unconvinced, but decided to let the subject drop.

"Got anything to eat?"

"Leftovers in the fridge."

"Thanks."

CJ watched as Raph headed down a hallway, probably to clean, as he had said.

"I suppose I'll take Bee out tomorrow… he's probably feeling cramped in here." She looked down at her watch.

"Must be fun to be a turtle…" she mused, "I might give it a try tomorrow as well." CJ went back over to the beanbag chair. After a few minutes, she groaned.

"Gah… I'm so bored…" It was then that she noticed the numerous games near the TV. "Wonder what games they have." She looked down at the selection that lay before her.

"Let's see… boring… played it… boring… creepy… oh! They have Karaoke 4!" She picked up the unopened case. "I haven't played this one before… and by the look of it they haven't played it either."

CJ opened the disc case, found the microphone, and turned on the gaming console. Looking through the song selections, she picked one of her favourites and began to sing.

From his spot behind the wall, Raph smiled. She was pretty good, for a human. He then proceeded to clean before he got busted again.

After about an hour, CJ was taking a break from the game. She stood over the sink, getting a drink of water. She had noticed that her forehead was starting to get hot, and that was when she paused in her singing. What she hadn't noticed was the four turtles standing in the hall. April had gone home a little while ago, as her aunt had requested her presence.

"I told you she was good," Raph whispered to his brothers. Mikey shot him a smirk.

"First it was Donnie, and now you, Raph?" he snickered.

"What– no!" he growled, his face turning red, "Shut up!"

"Oh and thanks for cleaning our rooms for us," Donnie grinned.

"Yeah, I'm sure she loves a guy who can clean!" Leo added with a quiet laugh.

"I will hurt you," Raph hissed, turning back towards the girl.

"Yeah, and get Sensei to punish you even more?" Mikey nudged the hothead.

"You guys can play, if you want."

The four of them jumped. CJ had her back to them, but she had still known that they were there.

"How do you do that?" Donnie asked in awe, "Did you hear us?"

"No," The heat left Raph's cheeks. "I just didn't hear your training yells anymore. Plus, having a mirror by the sink doesn't hurt, either."

"Well now I feel like a failure," Leo admitted, dejected.

"Come on," CJ finally turned and faced the brothers. "You guys want to join me?"

"We will," Mikey grinned mischievously, "But Raph's gotta clean!"

The red-clad brother glared at the youngest, before turning to leave. "Actually, I'm going to train," he huffed.

Mikey shrugged. "Either way you're not joining us. OW!"

Raph had whacked him upside the head. "Yeah, well then, have fun," he muttered sarcastically, walking away in anger.

The three free turtles went and joined CJ on the couch. "You guys can go first," she offered, "I'm still taking a break."

Nodding, Donatello went first, choosing to sing a techno song: Flying High, by DJ Splash. It was the original version, as the more popular version was much too quick for a beginner.

_Time is passing by_

_You're gonna make it through the night_

_Until the morning you say "Goodbye,_

_For now darling."_

_Maybe you will come back_

_On another day you'll do that_

_Go away with the wind _

_It takes you now!_

As he finished the song, Leo stood up. "I guess it's my turn…" He looked at the microphone anxiously and finally took it from Don's outstretched hand. CJ watched as he stared blankly at the screen, and moved to choose a song.

"Here, I'll pick something easy," she smiled. Going through the song selection, Leo suddenly jumped.

"That one!"

CJ gawked at the screen. "You sure? That doesn't seem like your style…"

"Positive."

CJ hit a button on the remote, and the rock song began to play: Linkin Park's New Divide.

_So give me reason,_

_To prove me wrong,_

_To wash this memory clean…_

_Let the floods cross,_

_The distance in your eyes…_

_Give me reason,_

_To fill this hole,_

_Connect the space between…_

_Let it be enough to reach the truth and lies…_

_Across this new divide!_

Leo finished the song and grinned at the applause. Mikey then went up to him. "Not bad, bro," he nodded, "But let me show you how it's done!" Mikey snatched the microphone from Leo's hand and switched the song to something a little more his style: Party Rock Anthem.

CJ burst into laughter as he struck a pose, before dancing, all the while adding a combination of ninja moves to keep the act spicy.

That's right, I said spicy.

_Party Rock is in the house tonight… _

_Everybody just have a good time…_

_And we gon' make you lose your mind _

_Everybody just have a good time!_

_Party Rock is in the house tonight _

_Everybody Just have a good time _

_And we gon' make you lose your mind _

_We just wanna see ya…_

_...Shake dat!_

"That was awesome!" Mikey pumped his fist as he finished the song.

"I definitely think he's the best," Leo admitted.

"You're both better than me," Don replied with a grin.

CJ took the mike from Mikey and turned to the brothers. "So who wants to do a duet?"

As she and Leo started to sing Good Time by Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen, Raph glanced at them from his position behind the corner. Sensei had requested that he should go and get one of the others' weapons to practice with a few moments ago, and he simply stood and watched as they sung. Slipping behind them, he snagged Donnie's Bo Staff, as it was the closet, and slipped back behind the corner. He continued to stare as they finished. He noticed that Spike was on the kitchen table. He'd have to hit the person who had touched him later. His brothers had begun to sing Live While We're Young by One Direction, and as they sung, he felt a pang of envy strike him. With a silent growl, he whipped around, nearly breaking the staff, and headed back towards the training hall.

When the three turtles had finished the song, CJ gave them a standing ovation.

"That was amazing!" she praised them.

"Aww, thanks CJ!" Mikey grinned, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

"You guys sound awesome together! You should make a band or something!" she gushed.

"Yeah, if we weren't, you know, mutant turtles…" Don humoured her.

"Kinda wish Raph was here, though," Leo sighed, "He hates being left out of this kind of stuff."

"And if we sounded awesome with just the three of us," Mikey added, "Just image how _EPIC_ we'd sound with the team complete!"

"Unless Raph can't sing," Donnie pointed out. The other two froze, before nodding in agreement.

"That's true…" Leo murmured, "It always seems like when three of us excel at a skill, the fourth lacks it."

"Like intelligence," Don stared pointedly at Mikey, who was sniffing his foot for some odd reason. At the silence, the youngest turtle looked up, and noticed them staring at him; his brothers in disgusted embarrassment, and CJ in amusement.

"What?"

"Wow," CJ looked at her watch, ignoring Mikey's imploring question, "It's getting pretty late. I suppose you have to go pick up April?"

"Yeah," Leo nodded, "Thanks for gaming with us."

"One more song?" Mikey pleaded. CJ grinned.

"Let's do it!"

Their voices rang out the words of Hall of Fame, by The Script. They resonated through the lair, and into the ears of a hotheaded turtle holding a Bo Staff. The listener's grip tightened, and teeth were grit in anger as their voices echoed through the night.

As New York slept that night, four figures raced across the rooftops: three turtles and a teenage girl, all of them keeping an eye on the city. Elsewhere, a red-clad turtle trained vigorously as another teenage girl typed away on her laptop, sitting on the shoulder of a giant yellow robot.

"The watch hasn't picked up anything yet."

Beep beep beep. Beep beep?

"Yes, I made sure that it ignored Knock-Out."

Beep beep beep!

"…You heard that? I thought you were asleep."

Beep beep beep, beep beep.

"Nah, it's fine. Thank you!"

Beep beep!

"The others were good too."

Beep beep. Beep beep beep beep?

"Arcee? By the looks of things, she's doing fine. I'm expecting her to wake up within the next day or so."

Bee nodded. Beep beep beep. Beep beep beep?

"Tomorrow we'll go out and look. I promise."

Beep!

"In the meantime I'm going to get some rest."

Beep beep?!

"Well, I'm actually pretty exhausted. I burnt myself out with that singing game."

Beep.

"And I'm not feeling too good."

Beep beep?

"My head feels a little funny… and my vision is kind of funny, too. I'll just take a quick rest and then I'll be fine."

Beep beep…

"See you in the morning."

For the second time that day, Bee watched in worry as CJ headed towards the beanbag chair that had been her bed earlier. She placed her glasses onto the floor as she curled into a ball.

_I'm feeling kind of dizzy… I hope that _it_ isn't going to happen… I won't have time to warn them…_

After a few moments of the world spinning, CJ fell asleep.


	11. Chapter 10: This is the scary part

"Here you go, April," Donnie blushed as he helped the redhead down the stairs to her room's window.

"Thanks, guys," she smiled up at them, "Sorry I couldn't stay longer."

"Hey, it's not your fault you twisted your ankle," Donnie reassured her.

"Just be more careful next time," Leo warned.

"Chill, bro," Mikey shot April a wink, "We'll see you tomorrow. Maybe you could join us for karaoke!"

She looked at Don and Leo with a blank stare.

"CJ found Karaoke 4 in Mikey's endless pile of video games," Leo sighed, before leading his younger brothers back to the roof.

"Bye guys!" she called, waving after them.

"What say we do another round before calling it a night?" Don suggested. Just then, the T-Phone rang.

"Speaking of call…" Leo answered the phone as they ran. "Raph? Is that you?"

"Bro! You gotta come home, now!" he shouted into the phone, nearly breaking Leo's eardrum.

"Ow! Raph, what's the problem? What's with the panic?" The three turtles course corrected and began heading for the lair.

"It's CJ – Put that down! – She's going completely nuts, and – Calm _down_, girl! – destroying the lair!" A crash was heard, followed by a groan from Raph. "_I JUST CLEANED THAT!"_

Leo began to pick up speed. "Raph, what is she doing? What's going on?"

"Just get here as soon as you can! She's moaning and everything! I tried to hold her down, but she's uncontrollable! I can't even get her to keep still –" Silence fell from the other end of the line.

"Raph? _Raph! What is going on?!_"

"Well that's disgusting…"

"What is?"

"Is that all you can say?! Look, let's just say pizza looks way better when it's not splattered all over the floor – I THOUGHT YOU WERE TRYING TO HELP ME STAY _OUT_ OF TROUBLE!"

"Nice."

"Would you hurry up and get down here?! This chick is nuts!"

"We're on our way."

"Great, I could use the help for once – PUT SPIKE DOWN NOW!" The line went dead.

"This sounds serious," Donnie mused, having heard the whole conversation because of Raph's yelling "We'd better hurry before CJ hurts herself."

"Honestly," Leo gritted his teeth, "CJ's not the one I'm worried about."

They reached the lair a few minutes later to a shocking sight, almost as shocking as when they first met the intelligent girl. It was a disaster.

Comic books and video games were scattered all over the place. Raph sat against the far wall, cradling Spike in his arms while glaring at the cause of the chaos: CJ, who was currently standing in front of Donnie's work table, plans, designs, and tools around her feet.

"MY BABIES!" Don and Mikey screeched at the same time, one racing towards the work table, the other heading towards the comics and games. Leo went towards Raph, sighing at his brothers' ignorance.

"What happened with Spike?" Leo asked.

"Our guest decided that he was a football," Raph spat, "I knew this was a bad idea."

"Yet you seemed so eager for her to stay at the start," Leo raised his lack of eyebrows.

"What are you –" Raph began, before getting distracted. "Ohhhh boy."

"What?" Leo turned and spotted the reason of Raph's distraction. CJ wobbled at the edge of the pool, close to where the tire swing hung. She teetered at the edge of the water for a few seconds, before tumbling forward and splashing into the liquid, the top of her head whacking the tire before completing the fall.

"CJ!"

The four brothers raced towards the submerged girl, but it was Mikey who reached her first. The nunchuck wielder dove into the water, and came up with her seconds later. Instead of being grateful, she attempted to squirm out of his grasp and continuously whacked him upside the head, completely oblivious to the fact that she was soaking wet.

"OW! CJ! Why are you hitting me? OW! That hurts! OW! My beautiful head! OWWWW!"

"I wanna go back to bed…" she mumbled, attempting to get away from Mikey. Realization struck Donatello, and he began to head towards the garage as Mikey was forced to drop her.

"I have an idea!" he told the others, racing for his tool box. "Keep her out of trouble!"

"Easier said than done!" Leo retorted, standing between Mikey and Raph. Leo heard a noise from his right. The hothead had suddenly gasped and was now backing away slowly.

"Oh no…"

"What's wrong, Raph?"

Mikey was as confused as Leo, until he realized what Raph had spotted and began running away.

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

"WHAT is the problem?!" Leo demanded, exasperated.

"SHE'S GOT THE NUNCHUCKS!"

Leo whipped around. Sure enough, the girl twirled the nunchucks in her hands as she slowly approached.

"Oh boy…" Leo followed his two retreating brothers, Mikey's screams echoing through the lair.

"What is _wrong_ with you guys?!" Don growled as he rushed out of the garage. He stood stunned as he watched his three ninja brothers being chased by a girl much smaller than them wielding nunchucks.

"Can't you guys hold her down?!"

"Dude, this chick's got MAD nunchuck fury!" Mikey replied, jumping over the couch.

"I'm surprised Splinter hasn't woken up yet!" Raph made his own observations.

"Just hold her down!" Don rolled his eyes, grabbing his Bo Staff and racing into the fray. He managed to wrench one of the weapons from her hands, and Leo was able to rid her of the other. Raph and Mikey got behind her and pinned her arms behind her back, forcing her to the ground. In Donnie's hand was none other than a flashlight.

"_That's_ going to stop her freak out?" Raph stared incredulously at the device.

"No, you idiot! Leo, hold her head steady." The blue-clad turtle complied, and Don gently opened one of her eyes. He was taken aback by the tears rolling down her face as she struggled under their grasp, and shone the flashlight into her eye.

"This is not good…"

"What?" Leo asked.

"Her pupils aren't dilating."

"In English?" Raph growled.

"They aren't getting smaller."

"So?!"

"So, it's like she's sleep-walking."

"Or sleep destroying…" Mikey snickered.

"Get her onto the couch," Donnie instructed, taking out a needle and heading to his room, "I'm getting anesthetic. We can't let her destroy things. She might hurt herself or us."

"I think Splinter's going to take care of that," Leo replied as Don referred to themselves.

"Dude, this is impossible! How is she so strong?" Mikey groaned as they moved her to the couch.

"No clue. The sooner she's awake, the better."

Raph held onto her ankles, barely managing to keep her legs still, as Leo and Mikey held onto one arm each. Soon, Don had the anesthetic, and injected it into her left arm, forcing Leo to move a bit. The struggles soon ceased, and CJ was calm once more. The brothers collapsed to the ground, panting.

"That was scary," Raph voiced the thoughts of his brothers. Mikey looked up with a smirk.

"_You_ were scared?" he teased.

"What… No!"

"Raph's just a big scaredy turtle!" Mikey laughed, but froze as Raph glared at him with intensity.

"You know what… Yes, I was scared. I was very scared." The other three stared at him. "You didn't see her when she had started freaking out. I had just finished training, and was going to clean again, when I saw her get up. She looked like she was about to faint, so I helped her back to the beanbag chair. Then she starts crying and causing chaos and moaning. The worst thing was how she was so pale."

"This is serious…" Leo murmured. Donnie nodded in agreement and got up to go to his room. "I'm going to see if I can find something about this," the genius explained.

Beep beep?

"Oh boy…" Leo looked at the garage entrance. "Mikey, you and I better go tell Bee about what happened."

"What about me?" Raph stood up as the two of them began to leave. Mikey looked back with a smug grin.

"You gotta clean this place up!" he snickered.

"Are you serious?!"

"Hey, Splinter's orders!" Leo told him, grinning evilly.

"Grr…" Raph began picking up the mess as Leo and Mikey left the room. His eyes went to the unconscious girl on the couch, who twitched.

"Hope you're okay…" he murmured, before going to get the mop.


	12. Chapter 11: The Awakening

Three long hours had passed, and there was still no sign of CJ waking up. Bee drove nervously forward and back, as the garage was much too small for him to pace. Raph had finished cleaning up the chaos and was now sitting with Spike, keeping an eye on the girl. Don had only left his room once since he'd gotten there, and that was to put an old IV drip into her left hand. It was one that he had found abandoned outside of a hospital, and had sterilized it with the insistence that it would prove useful. Raph would never argue with the genius about his odd finds again. Don had said that she needed to keep her fluids up, and had put water into the sack that hung from the pole to do so. Mikey played a video game, talking as if CJ could hear him. Raph knew that it was his way of dealing with panic, and though the commentary irritated him, he let Mikey do his thing, just for once. Leo had gone to train, and, oddly enough, throughout the entire ordeal, Master Splinter had not even stirred.

"What the – OW."

Raph and Mikey jumped at the quiet, tired voice.

"How'd I get on the couch? And how'd this get into my hand?"

"CJ!" The two turtles let out massive sighs of relief. The girl clutched her head as she sat up.

"Ow…" she winced as pain shot through her head again, subsiding after a few moments. "'Sup guys?"

"Dude, you're okay!" Mikey completely forgot about his game and rushed to the couch.

"Yeah… what happened?" She looked around as Raph came up to her as well.

"You went completely nuts," he explained, folding his arms, "Moaning and causing destruction all over the place."

"Oh yeah… I remember now," she realized, "There's no need to worry; it was just a migraine."

"A what?" Mikey looked at her blankly.

"It's like a really bad headache."

"Oh."

"Mikey, go tell Leo and Donnie that she's awake," Raph ordered. The orange-clad turtle nodded solemnly and left the room. "So you're sure you're okay?"

"Yeah," CJ grinned faintly up at the hothead, "My head will hurt for a few days, but other than that I'll be fine."

"So it was just a bad headache?"

"That's right."

"Pretty intense for a headache…" Raph looked at her doubtfully.

"I know…" CJ smiled a tiny bit as Leo and Donnie rushed into the room, with Mikey trailing behind.

"You're alive!" Donnie sighed in relief.

"Sorry for making you worry," CJ looked up at them sadly.

"As long as you're okay," Leo told her, "That's all that matters."

"I'm fine," she reassured them. Raph noticed that she was definitely different now; weaker, more vulnerable, and calmer, but he felt that something was missing, and couldn't put a finger on it. As he pondered this, Leo proceeded to sit down in front of the couch and reached for the remote.

"Really?" he asked in disbelief, "She's just gone through a migraine and you're going to watch your stupid show?"

"Yeah!" Mikey agreed, "I was playing video games!"

CJ smiled softly as Mikey rubbed the back of his head and Raph lowered his arm. "It doesn't matter if you want to use the television," she told them with a yawn. As Leo and Mikey began to argue over the remote, CJ let out another yawn. "I just need some rest and I'll be okay. I hope Bee isn't too worried about me…"

Beep beep!

"I'm sorry, Bee!"

Beep!

She shifted her eyes so that they locked onto Donnie's.

"Could you take Bee out for a drive in the morning, Donnie? I'd hate to break my promise to him."

"I don't know…" Don looked uneasy.

"Please? He's been cooped up for the past few days. And the windows are tinted, so no one will be able to see you."

"I suppose I could check with Master Splinter," he sighed.

"Thank you, Donnie!" she murmured, before closing her eyes once more. It was around this time that Splinter arrived.

"And what is it that you would like to confirm with me?"

"Sensei!" Leo gasped, getting distracted from his battle with the youngest turtle.

"My sons," Splinter nodded, before shooting a pointed look at Raph. The hothead bit his lip and rushed off to the training room as his brothers began to explain what had happened. He hadn't gotten an ounce of sleep, but seeing that CJ was okay now would make the training worth it.

He'd been vigorously training for about an hour when Splinter told him to stop. Raph collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, pants wracking his body. Master Splinter looked down at him until he managed to stumble onto his feet.

"You are to go tend to Arcee with Donatello now," Splinter told him. With a tired nod, the red-clad turtle dragged himself to the living room, where he found Mikey playing a video game on his T-Phone, and Leo watching Space Heroes. Taking a few more steps forward, he saw that CJ was asleep yet again, with Spike sitting on her stomach. Her right hand rested on the turtle's shell, and a small smile was on her face.

_Man… that girl sleeps more than Mikey…_ he smirked to himself, before heading to the garage, where Don waited for him.

The next few hours were spent with him and his younger brother repairing the motorcycle to the best of their ability, with Bee watching anxiously over their shoulders. As he worked, he found himself humming a tune that CJ had sung the day before despite himself. He never even realized he was doing it until Don brought it to his attention.

"Wow, Raph," the genius noted, "I've never heard you so happy before! You're even humming!"

The hothead was forced to freeze, and glared at the purple-clad turtle.

"Shut up and work," he snarled. Donnie nodded with a small 'eep' before returning to the task of repairing the bike. Raph never uttered another noise after that.

After another hour of repair work, Raph stood up and wiped the grease from the back of his hand onto his forehead. He then grabbed a rag and cleaned the rest of the grease from his face.

"That should be good enough for now, Raph," Don told him. "We've fixed everything we could."

Bee let out a sad beep due to the fact that his robot friend was still unconscious, as Donnie left the room to go clean himself up. Raph grabbed the handles of the motorcycle and began to walk it around the room. Bee let out a curious beep, and Raph assumed this meant that he was wondering what he was doing.

"I'm making sure her tires don't seize up," Raph explained, "All we need is for her to lose her ability to move."

Bee nodded and watched as Raph continued pacing with the bike. He then stopped and got lost in thought, unconsciously rolling the bike back and forth in a rocking motion as he did so.

"I suppose I deserve it…"

Beep?

"I suppose I deserve getting in trouble so badly. I didn't want to put my family at risk… I just wanted some alone time. Especially after that last battle… I had to do almost everything, what with Leo stuck trying to free Mikey, and Don working on disabling that weapon."

Beep.

"I have no idea what you're saying."

Moan…

Raph looked up at Bee in surprise. "Never heard that sound come out of you before."

Beep!

Bumblebee pointed at the motorcycle.

"Bumblebee?" it murmured, "…Is that you?"

"Whoa…" Raph whispered in awe.

"…Jack? Is that you?" The bike inquired.

"No, I'm Raph."

The vehicle immediately screeched forward, ripping out of Raphael's grasp and placing itself between him and Bumblebee. It then began to change, transforming as did Bumblebee. Soon, an enraged metallic face emerged, and the female robot had its blasters aimed at the turtle.

"Who are you?"

"I just told you. I'm Raphael. Or Raph."

The robot paused for a moment, examining Raph as it kept the blasters pointed.

"_What_ are you?" she asked.

"Mutant turtle. You're Arcee, right?"

"How do you know that?"

"What's with all the questions? Look, you're safe here. Tell her, Bee."

As Bumblebee began to explain to Arcee what had happened, Leo and Don entered the room in a rage.

"RAPH!" Leo yelled. "You better not have taken the bike out again!" The two of them froze when they spotted Arcee in robot mode.

"You're awake," Leo realized, stating the obvious.

"Wow!" Donnie grinned, "You're even cooler as a robot!"

"Friends of yours?" Arcee looked down at Raph.

"Brothers, actually," the hothead gestured towards the turtles. "The blue whiny one is Leonardo, and the purple resident tech-nerd is Donatello."

"I am _not_ whiny. That's Mikey."

"Sure. You keep telling yourself that."

"Where are we?" Arcee demanded.

Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep beep, beep beep beep beep beep! Beep beep, beep beep beep beep. Beep beep beep beep. Beep beep, beep!

"Alternate dimension, huh?" Arcee lowered her blasters. "Well, that explains the turtles." She suddenly dropped down to her hands as the past few days caught up with her. Bee carefully helped her sit down against the wall.

"I'm so sore… and so exhausted," she murmured, panting, "Are the others here?"

Bee shook his head before answering.

"CJ? Who's CJ?"

"That would be me."

The five of them turned to look at the doorway. The girl stood with Mikey and Splinter, behind her.

"Nice to see that you're awake, Arcee," she nodded, holding the IV drip in her right hand and Spike in her left, "This is Michelangelo, or Mikey, and their father, Master Splinter."

Arcee nodded, exchanging the faint smile that was on the girl's face. "Looks like we've both been through some rough times."

"CJ!" Raph growled, "What are you doing up?!" The hothead rushed forward to lead the girl back to the couch. Splinter followed Mikey into the garage and looked up at the two robots.

"Welcome to our home, Miss Arcee," he nodded. "Raphael is the one who found you, and he and Donatello tended to your wounds."

"Thank you," the robot looked down at the genius, who was examining her left leg. She then turned to Bee.

"Anyone else here?"

Beep beep.

"Just Knock-Out, huh?"

Beep. Beep beep beep.

"I suppose if we have to find the others to save our home. We can go whenever."

Beep beep! Beep, beep beep beep.

"Great… Only CJ can do it, huh?"

Bee nodded, before adding some more beeps.

"I'm fine!" As she said that, her eyes closed. They waited for a few moments, but it turned out that she had fainted. Bee began to beep in panic.

"She's fine, Bumblebee," Donnie assured him, "Just exhausted. She needs some rest." Bee nodded, before transforming into vehicle mode and opening the door. Donatello looked up at Splinter with pleading eyes. The rat sighed.

"Alright. But only you," Splinter glared at Michelangelo as he attempted to sneak into the car. With an 'aww…' the wildest turtle went back to his T-Phone game.

"Thank you, Sensei!" Don hopped into the vehicle and opened the garage door. They raced out into the sunlight as Leo closed it again.

Splinter motioned for Mikey and Leo to follow him and leave Arcee to rest. As they entered the living room, they saw Raph fussing over CJ, making sure she stayed on the couch this time.

"I am considering giving him a bit of relaxation concerning his punishment," Splinter mused to the two turtles, "He has been through much within the past few hours…"

Leo remained silent while Mikey looked at the two of them.

"He _did_ see CJ almost drown," Mikey murmured, "And he actually admitted to being scared. Plus, he had to clean up her entire mess."

"Leonardo? Do you have anything you would like to add?"

Leo shook his head. "I have nothing to say." Leo glared at the hothead. He was still pretty irritated with Raph for putting them in jeopardy.

"Do not let fury blind your compassion," Splinter instructed the leader. Leo nodded, never thinking that his Sensei would give an anger management lesson to anyone but Raph.

"Hey, Sensei," Mikey questioned, "There was a lot of noise in here. How come you never woke up?"

Splinter smiled. "I had borrowed Donatello's noise cancelling headphones," he confessed, "I wanted to catch up on my soaps."

Mikey let out a laugh and followed the rat to the training room, with Leo close behind.

_'Do not let fury blind your compassion…' I have a right to be furious! _Leo seethed. _He risked our entire secret… our entire _lives_… for some joyrides!_

"Raph, quit worrying about me! I'm fine!" CJ argued, grinning.

"Let me introduce you to my blood pressure," Raph held out his wrist jokingly. "You're fine when it goes down by about two hundred."

"Nice one," she nodded, wincing as pain shot through her head, "But seriously. You should get some sleep. You've been up for two straight nights now."

"I'm perfectly fine," Raph growled, before letting out a massive yawn.

"I'll get up," she threatened.

"Fine," the hothead shook his head. "Just get some rest," he ordered gruffly, before heading to his room.

"Alright." She let out a yawn that could rival the turtle's. "And thank you," she murmured, before closing her eyes.

A rare look of sympathy flashed across his face for a moment, before he left with a quiet 'you're welcome'.


	13. Chapter 12: Disaster Doesn't Wanna Leave

The turtles actually managed to get through the rest of the day uneventfully before disaster struck them once more. It had been after patrol; the three unpunished turtles had just returned from the surface. April hadn't been with them for their nightly run, much to Donatello's disappointment. As they entered the lair, they saw CJ asleep on the couch, the television on and Raphael nowhere to be seen. Michelangelo yawned and headed off to his room, with Donnie close behind. Leonardo made a move to follow them, but stopped and realized that something was amiss. He walked over to where CJ slept, but everything seemed okay. He could hear the steady, robotic breathing of Bumblebee and Arcee as they slept across from each other in the garage. His gaze shifted to the kitchen, and his eyes landed on what was there. Spike sat on the table, next to a plate of leaves. But he wasn't eating them, as he usually did when they came home from patrol. Rather, his legs were in his shell, and his head rested dully on the edge of the plate. With a look of concern, Leo rushed over to the small turtle and rested a finger on his head. The little turtle was burning up, hotter than any turtle should be.

_Something's wrong…_

The leader quickly rushed off to the bedrooms. He was heading to tell Raph, but ended up running into Donnie instead.

"Donnie, something's wrong with Spike," Leo whispered, "I think he's sick."

Don's eyes widened, before he headed to the kitchen to check on the little turtle. Leo continued down the hall, reaching Raph's room after a few more steps. He put his hand on the doorknob hesitantly, before shaking his head and knocking instead.

"Bu-wha…" Raph's voice came from his room.

"Raph, get up!" Leo whispered fiercely.

"Go away, Leo…" Raph grumbled, his voice muffled.

"It's Spike. Something's wrong with him."

He heard a thunk, followed by some crashes and scrambling. He stepped back as the door flew open, and the hothead rushed past him in a blur of green and red.

"No no no no no no no!" Leo could barely hear the hothead's desperation, and rushed after his younger brother. Raph nearly shoved Don aside in order to see Spike.

"Come on, little buddy," he urged, "You're gonna be okay…" He turned on Donatello. "What's wrong with him?!"

"I'm not sure…" Donnie admitted. This didn't please the hothead one bit.

"You're not sure?!" Raph's voice rose to a crescendo. "_What do you mean, you're not sure?!_"

"I mean I've never dealt with this kind of thing before! I don't know what to do!"

"Here's a thought, genius," Raph yelled, "GO GET A BOOK!"

Donnie rushed off, too scared of Raph's insane anger to say or do anything else. Raph began stroking the small turtle's shell, whispering to him, as Leo looked on sadly.

"What's going on?"

Leo looked behind him at the tired voice. CJ had woken up, most likely due to Raph's yelling, and was blinking up at him tiredly.

"Spike is sick," Leo explained solemnly.

"Aw, the poor little guy!" She sat up with a gasp of pain. "Is he going to be okay?"

"We don't know yet," Leo admitted in a whisper. "We're not really sure what to do."

CJ grabbed the IV drip and pulled herself up slowly, before carefully making her way to the kitchen. Leo would have stopped her, but instead held onto her other arm to support her when she almost collapsed. Raph needed all the help he could get. After a minute or so, she stood at Raph's side, a hand on his.

"I read somewhere that we should keep him cool," CJ offered. Raph said nothing, and she saw the intense pain in his eyes. He picked Spike up and followed CJ to the sink, where she turned on the cold water. Raph carefully placed him into the water and let it graze Spike's shell. After a couple of intense moments, the three of them saw Spike's mouth open ever so slightly and drink some of the refreshing liquid.

"Send April a text," she ordered Leo, "Tell her that Spike has to go to the vet right away."

"What?!" Raph gawked at her.

"I hate to tell you this, Raph, but overheating in turtles can be very dangerous and often fatal." The hothead nearly collapsed himself when he heard this. "We just need to keep a close eye on him and get him to a vet as soon as possible."

"But isn't the vet closed tomorrow?" Leo wondered. Raph's panic level went through the roof, and he looked ready to strangle his older brother.

"This is New York City," CJ glared at the blue-clad turtle. "Of course a vet will be open tomorrow. Or else they'll have to answer to me."

"Get him under cold water!" Don's voice floated into the room, soon followed by the turtle himself. He froze as he saw that they were already doing that.

"We'll have to keep an eye on him," Leo realized, "CJ, you go back to sleep. You need your rest. You too, Raph."

The girl shook her head stubbornly, causing more pain to shoot up to her brain, as Raph scowled at his older brother.

"Forget it, Leo," Raph hissed, "I'm not leaving Spike."

"And I'm not leaving Raph," CJ added. The hothead looked at her determined face with surprise, before both of them focused their attention back on the small turtle. Leo let out a moan, before he and Donatello sat at the table, waiting for them to grow tired.

Sure enough, after a few minutes, CJ yawned and rested her head on the IV pole. A few seconds later, she was asleep. Leo stood up and sighed.

"I'll take her back to bed," he informed his brothers, before carrying her gently back to the couch. He grimaced at a dab of drool that hung from his shoulder, but said nothing as he used the blanket wipe it off. Don stood up and took her place next to Raph.

"He'll be fine," Don looked down at the small turtle. "He's as stubborn as you."

Raph said nothing, but a smirk played on the edge of his lips for a fleeting second. He then grabbed a chair and sat down, resting his chin on the edge of the sink.

"You'd better be right, brainiac," he sighed, preparing himself for the long night ahead.

_Mondays…_

April yawned early the next morning as she sat up in bed and checked her clock. It was only seven thirty, so she settled back into her bed, wondering why she was awake so early in the morning as school didn't start for another two hours. As her eyes closed, she looked at the window. It was beautiful outside, with the sun shining, the birds singing, the red light blinking into her eyes…

_Wait… red light?_

April struggled to sit up once more. On her windowsill sat the T-Phone that the turtles had given her. The red text message light was blinking, indicating that the brothers wanted her. With a sigh, she sat up and went to retrieve the phone. Flipping it open, she immediately awoke and nearly dropped the phone as she read what the message said.

_"Spike is very sick. We need you to take him to the vet. A lot has happened since we last saw you. Get here as soon as you can."_

Moments later, April was fully dressed and ready to leave, pulling her schoolbag onto her back. She stuck a note on her door, telling her aunt that she had gone to school early, and rushed out the window, a look of worry on her face.

* * *

**Sorry for the small chapter, guys! I couldn't go further without going overboard. Anyway, tell me how you like the story so far! I'd love to hear from you guys!**

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	14. Chapter 13: Spike's Vet Visit

"I got your text. So what did I miss?"

"Not much… CJ had a migraine and is bedridden for a few days, Arcee finally woke up but she fainted soon after."

"And Spike?"

"Raph and Donnie have been up all night with him. He's a bit better but it's still iffy."

"I can take him to the surface. There's a vet close to my school that's always open."

"Thanks, April." Leonardo led the redhead into the kitchen. Raph hadn't budged an inch since the night before, and looked exhausted. Donnie was pouring over some books and his computer, too engrossed in his search to notice that April was there.

"I'll go right away."

"I'm coming, too."

Leo sighed. "No, Raphael. You can't."

"Now in what universe does my voice sound like Raph's?"

Leo and April turned to look at the couch. There, CJ had sat up, IV drip in hand. She had detached the bag from the stand and had maneuvered it so that she could put her sweater on. She was reattaching it as she spoke.

"No. Absolutely not." Leo shook his head firmly, "I forbid it."

"Look," CJ adjusted her sleeve, "April will have to go to school or her teachers and her aunt will know that something is up."

April looked at Leo, about to ask something, before shaking her head. "Right. TV show."

"Plus, you might get recognized. With me tagging along, I can at least vouch that it isn't your turtle. Besides, I don't have to go to school, so I can just stick around the vet's office until he's better."

"I can't be late today," April added, "I've been late too many times already. The vet doesn't open until nine."

Leo groaned, and Don finally snapped out of his search.

"What about the IV drip?" He had heard every word. "You can't hide that. And… uh… Hi, April!"

"Hey, Don."

"You seem to forget that I can disguise things with my watch," CJ rolled her eyes, before pressing a few buttons.

"Actually, you only told us that you can disguise yourself," Donatello replied.

CJ ignored this. "Just a few commands, and…"

A flash of light blinded them for a few seconds. When Leo opened his eyes, the IV stand had become a walking stick, not unlike Master Splinter's.

"My sweater covers my hand," she went on, "And this looks like I'm holding a walking stick."

Leo noticed the cord extending from the stick to her hand. "How does it work?"

"It alternates the appearance. It's still an IV drip, but it _looks_ like a walking stick. Touch it." Sure enough, the supposed wood had a metallic feel to it.

"Science," she grinned. "Amazing what it can do."

"And what about being pale? Not to mention you look different from our humans."

"Hood."

"You're too weak to do this," Leo argued, but knew he was fighting a losing battle when Don joined their side.

"I don't know, Leo, I think it could work," he admitted.

"It will be fine. We'll travel by sewers and get as close as we can," April promised with determination, as Leo let out a sigh of defeat. "Raph?"

The hothead finally looked up from his position by the sink when April called his name. The four of them were shocked by the fatigue and sorrow in his eyes. He slowly turned and went over to CJ.

"Thanks," he whispered, giving her a quick shoulder pat; barely a second, but enough to render his brothers and April speechless, while CJ just looked sympathetic. He went and got a large salad bowl for Spike, filling it with cold water and placing the small turtle inside.

"Here…" He handed Spike to CJ, who accepted the bowl.

"What about the… 'walking stick'?" Leo asked.

"April can carry it," CJ shrugged, "Let's go."

They slowly made their way to the exit of the lair, with April making sure that CJ didn't trip and drop their passenger. Leo let out another sigh of defeat, before turning to his exhausted brothers.

"Both of you, bed. Now."

For once, Raph didn't argue, and went straight to his room. Donnie looked up at Leo imploringly.

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

Don sighed and gathered his things, before following Raph down the hall to go to his own room. Leo collapsed into a kitchen chair with exhaustion. When Mikey and Master Splinter entered the kitchen for breakfast, Leo was fast asleep; his knuckle pushing his face upward as he quietly snored. The two of them stared blankly at the sleeping leader, completely baffled and unaware of what had transpired during the night before.

"Here we go. Do you need any help?"

"Hey, I may be under the weather, but I'll be fine."

"…Maybe I should hold Spike."

"Good idea."

CJ handed the bowl to April with a grin, having attempted to climb the ladder in multiple strange ways. The redhead handed the IV pole back to CJ, who climbed up the ladder and removed the manhole cover.

"It's lighter than I would have thought," she noted, making sure the coast was clear before helping April to the surface.

"You'd be surprised," April shoved the cover back into place as the two of them exited the alley. CJ pulled her hood over her face.

"So where's the vet?"

"Right there," April pointed to the left of the school that was directly across the street, "Between the sushi bar and the Burger Hut."

"I'm not going to mention the irony in that statement."

April shook her head with a grin, before checking the time on her T-Phone. "Great. I think I'm going to be late."

"Let me go," CJ offered, holding her hand for the bowl. "I can take care of it."

"I've got a few more minutes yet. Besides, people might get suspicious if you walk in there with a hood over your face and a deranged walking stick disguise."

"Hey. Don't insult the watch," CJ laughed, "Though I do admit, it _does_ look pretty strange."

"So it really is science?"

"I had a lot of time on my hands. Anyway, we have to focus on Spike."

"Right." The two girls made their way to the veterinarian as quickly as they could, with CJ walking between April and the school to avoid attention. Unfortunately, redheads are hard to miss, especially when they're all over the news because their father had been abducted.

"Hey April!" The girl grimaced as her name was called, but continued walking nonetheless.

"April! Can't you hear me?"

"We focus on the mission," CJ told her as April nearly risked a glance behind them. She nodded, realizing how much she sounded like Leonardo at that moment.

"You sound like Leo," she noted, despite the fact that I just said that.

"Ha!" CJ grinned, "I guess you're right!"

"Here we are…" April looked up at the vet's office. "Dr. Sanchez's Pet Clinic."

"Good. Let's see if we can get Spike some help."

The two girls walked inside of the small facility. It was fairly simple; a corner plant, a few chairs lining the wall, a table with extremely out-of-date magazines. The reception desk was directly in front of the door. On either side there was a door, which presumably led to the offices and other vet rooms. The room was empty except for the receptionist and a younger man who held a small black kitten in his hands. It was currently sleeping, and seemed somewhat familiar.

"Excuse me," April went forward to speak to the receptionist, a large, blonde-haired woman, who looked up from her book with a smile. A snap indicated that she was chewing gum.

"Welcome to Dr. Sanchez's Pet Clinic! How can I help ya, hon?"

"My friend's turtle is very, very sick." April placed the bowl on the table. The receptionist, assuming that CJ owned the turtle, glanced at her curiously, examining her and her walking stick, before looking down at the turtle.

"Dearie me," she tut-tutted, "The poor little feller looks pretty under the weather, don't he?"

"He's been that way since late last night," April told her worriedly, "Do you think we could get Dr. Sanchez to look at him?"

"Well now, I don't see why not," the woman stood up and stuck her head through a door in the back of the reception area.

"Sanchez, honey, we got a couple o' little ladies here. Say their turtle's sick."

A male voice floated back, incomprehensible, with the receptionist nodding at his words.

"He says he'll be right out, dearies," the receptionist explained.

"Thank you, ma'am," April sighed in relief.

"There's no need for formalities, dearie," the woman dismissed the title with a wave of her hand, "Just call me Miss Amy." Amy stared closely at April at that moment. "Now you seem a bit familiar… have you been here before?"

"Nope! I have one of those faces!" April dismissed with a nervous smile.

"No… I know I've seen you before." Amy suddenly snapped her fingers. "That's right! You're the girl whose father got abducted!"

Now the man was staring at them with curiosity as well.

"Yeah, can we focus on the turtle now?" April begged, as CJ put her free hand to her face.

"Oh, right, right, right," the receptionist nodded before gesturing to the seating area, "Take a seat, darlings."

April nodded before taking a seat, with CJ close behind.

"This is a recurring thing with you, isn't it?" CJ questioned with a smirk.

"You'd be surprised."

"Probably not."

"It happens everywhere. The store, on the street, at school–" April's eyes widened. "School! What time is it?"

CJ looked at her watch so April wouldn't have to expose her T-Phone, before glancing at April with a grimace.

"Nine forty."

April let out a moan, before giving CJ the bowl, jumping to her feet, and heading to the door.

"Sorry, CJ…"

"No problem. I can handle my own."

The redhead rushed out the door in panic as CJ settled in to wait for the vet. She looked down at Spike with a small smile.

"Guess we're in the same boat, huh?" she murmured to the tired turtle, "You, me, Arcee… we just can't seem to catch a break, can we?"

In response, Spike simply looked up at her and took a tiny drink from the water that surrounded his shell. A few moments later, the vet exited one of the doors, and gestured for her to follow. She gently carried the turtle bowl in one hand, and the walking stick in another.

"So, what seems to be the problem with the little guy?" Dr. Sanchez looked down at the turtle with a smile.

"Well, his owner's brother came home last night, and discovered that he was very hot. He's had his feet in his shell since, and he's very inactive. He hasn't eaten at all, and he's barely drank anything."

"So this isn't your turtle," the doctor noted, carefully lifting Spike to examine him.

"No. They asked me to bring him in."

"And why couldn't the owner arrive?"

"He'd been up all night watching him. He's sleeping. And his family aren't exactly people folk."

"I see…" Dr. Sanchez eyed her suspiciously, his eyes drifting from her hidden face to the turtle to the walking stick, but said nothing more on the matter.

"Well, there doesn't seem to be anything physically wrong with him, but this is strange. Do you mind if I run a few tests?"

"Not at all," CJ shook her head, wincing slightly at the pain, "Go ahead."

"They may take a while," the doctor warned.

"I've got all day."

"You don't have school today like your friend?"

"It's not on right now. Plus, I'm from… out of town," CJ explained, taking a seat in the corner of the room as Dr. Sanchez began examining the turtle more thoroughly.

"Hmm… nothing seems to be broken," the vet mused, "Any dietary changes?"

"Not that I'm aware. He eats leaves, and that's pretty much it."

"No moving days or new furniture in the house?"

"Nope."

The doctor let out a sigh and picked up Spike. "I'm going to run a few tests. I'll be back in a little bit."

CJ nodded and settled herself into the chair to wait. After a few minutes, she ended up drifting off to sleep. She began to dream that she was riding on the back of a pig. Leo and Don were next to her, riding on pigs of their own. She asked them where Raph and Mikey were. They gestured to the purple castle ahead of them and explained that they were fighting the dragon of the castle for his stash of perfectly roasted marshmallows. Then, Leo's pig rode next to hers and he began poking her in the face.

"Hello? Miss?"

"Bu-marshmallows…" CJ jolted awake, finding herself staring at the doctor's hand.

"Miss, I wanted to ask you a question," the vet looked at her in amusement. Her hand went to her face, and she grimaced as she wiped the drool off of her mouth and adjusted her glasses.

"How long have I been out?"

"A couple hours. I finished the tests. What I wanted to ask was did anything happen to the owner?"

"Well, he did get grounded…" CJ realized, yawning, "He's spending most of his time cleaning or… doing homework. No free time."

"Ah," the vet smiled as he looked down at the turtle, "And you say that the owner stayed with him all night, and the little guy got a bit better?"

"Yes."

"My dear, I believe that our little friend here has made himself sick!" Dr. Sanchez began rubbing the turtle's shell. "Because of suddenly spending less time with his owner, he's worked himself into a type of turtle depression."

"So he's not sick?" CJ looked up at him, wide-eyed.

"Nope! The tests made sure of that. He's just lonely. I told Amy to get some pills ready to lower his fever. You can pick them up on the way out."

"Well, that's a relief," she sighed, picking up Spike and looking down at him as she placed him in his bowl, "You gave you're owner quite a scare!"

"One thing concerns me, though…" the doctor looked at the turtle thoughtfully, "The little guy has the oddest odour… Nothing physically wrong to worry about, of course, but… he smells strange. And now that I think about it, so do you."

"Oh, the owner's place is just a mess," CJ chuckled nervously, "Anyway. I'll get April to pick up the bill!"

She quickly rushed out of the office, pausing only to grab Spike's prescription. She checked her watch as she ran, nearly forgetting to grab the IV drip so that it still looked like a walking stick.

"Whoa… it's already twelve-thirty?" she gasped, shocked. "He took forever, and I slept for a long time!"

The schoolyard was filled with students on their lunch break. Making sure her hood was still pulled low over her face, she scanned the yard for April.

"It'll be just my luck if she's inside," CJ moaned to herself. However, she soon spotted the redhead near the doors of the school. Biting her lip, she ignored the many looks of curiosity she received on the way to the entrance of the building. April spotted her and excused herself from the people she was talking to.

"How is he?" April fretted once they were close enough to whisper.

"It's just turtle depression. He'll be fine. But I'll need your help to move the manhole cover."

April nodded, leading the way to an alley that was almost always empty.

"You remember the way?" April panted as she lifted the cover.

"I can figure it out," CJ began lowering herself into the hole. "Hey, could I get the bros' phone numbers? I could let them know ahead of time that Spike is okay."

"Sure," April nodded, getting her T-Phone out and getting the phone numbers, "Where's your phone?"

CJ held up her watch. "Just hit safe transmit on the bottom of the screen."

"That's a phone, too?!" April stared at her wrist. Sure enough, an option labelled safe transmit appeared at the bottom of the T-Phone's screen.

"This way, no one gets the numbers but me." CJ grinned as the watch beeped. She finally began to lower herself into the hole, with Spike's bowl tucked under one arm and the prescription between her teeth. The IV drip remained at the surface, finally losing its disguise, until April saw the cord being tugged. With a nod, she lowered the IV into the hole until she felt CJ grab it, and replaced the manhole cover with a quick goodbye.

Paste your document here...


	15. Chapter 14: Back to the Lair

CJ went as quickly as she could through the sewers, always making sure that Spike was safe, but being careful not to trip over anything. She followed her watch's sensors to find the lair, which she reached with little difficulty. She entered the lair after about an hour, exhaustedly dragging herself to the stairs.

"CJ?"

The girl looked up. Michelangelo was staring at her in surprise from his place in the kitchen. He had just made lunch, stirring some mysterious smelling contents in a large pot. Leonardo was still sleeping, his head resting on the table. Donatello, Master Splinter, and Raphael were nowhere to be seen.

"Hey Mikey," she greeted with a weak smile, "I got Spike…"

Mikey put down his cooking and rushed to her side. "Dude, Donnie told me and Splinter about what happened," he explained, carefully helping her down the stairs. "Raph's in his room."

With a painful nod, she dragged herself down the hall and stopped at the door with all the ripped 'Keep Out' stickers. She would have thought that it was Donatello's, due to all his precious experiments, had he not posted a bunch of science stickers all over the wall near the 'Keep Out' ones. Weakly, she knocked as loudly as she could.

"Raph? Are you there?"

Silence met her question, and after a moment's hesitation, she slipped inside and left the door slightly ajar behind her.

The room was not quite what she expected. A few pizza boxes, dumbbells, and comic books littered the floor, but other than that there was little mess. A red skateboard was leaning up against the wall right next to the door. She looked around, and saw that, instead of a bed, an empty hammock hung on the other side of the room. It was mostly dark, except for a slight blue glow from a dirty and faded light bulb above the door, and the light that came from the hallway. The tiny light illuminated a torn red punching bag in the corner, right next to a locked closet. She was about to leave, when a flash of brown caught her eye. Turning towards the punching bag, she saw that Raphael had collapsed to the ground, his hand clenched into a fist. She chuckled despite herself. The hothead had fallen asleep while taking his frustrations out on the poor punching bag. Fresh rips and scratches confirmed that fact, and his unclenched hand rested on the handle of one of his Sai, which had made a large rip when Raph had fallen asleep, taking the weapon down with him.

"Raph," she whispered, "Raph, wake up."

Nothing. "Raph. It's Spike. He's okay."

Still nothing. She figured that she'd have to be louder. Taking a deep breath, she shouted as loud as she could.

"RAPH! MIKEY HAS A WATER BALLOON!"

The only thing that responded was a gulp from Spike's drinking.

"Raph…" CJ placed the bowl onto the floor and began to nudge the turtle's arm with her hand.

"Raph, wake up!"

It was a good thing that she had put Spike on the ground, for the next thing she knew, she had been thrown against the wall, with green eyes staring at her in fury, holding her shoulder in place, a fist pulled back. The eyes then blinked, once, twice, three times before they widened in realization.

"CJ? What are you doing in here?" he growled.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think that you'd mind if I woke you up," she whimpered, flinching.

"Then why would I have the 'Keep Out' signs on the door?" he retorted.

"It was important. I brought you Spike," CJ ignored the question, gesturing to the small turtle in the bowl. Raph let go of her shoulder and spun around, eyes widening further as he spotted Spike.

"How is he?"

"The doctor gave me some medicine for his fever, and told me that he's just lonely. He got himself sick because he missed you. Turtle depression, the vet said."

Raph said nothing in reply as he got down on his hands and knees to pick up the turtle.

"I… I'll go," CJ murmured, slipping out of the room and shutting the door.

Mikey stared at her as she returned to the living room and collapsed onto the couch, exhausted. She pulled the blanket over herself as she settled into her makeshift bed once more.

"Not exactly the greatest idea," she confessed, looking over at him.

"You look so tired!" Mikey shook his head in sympathy, ignoring what had just happened, "Have some of my famous pizza noodle soup!"

"Sounds good…" CJ accepted a bowl and a spoon from the orange turtle. A strange scent drifted up to her nose, but she was never one to shy away from odd foods.

"Thank you," she smiled up at him, before she began to slurp the soup. Mikey watched her closely for a reaction. She smacked her lips thoughtfully, before her eyes visibly lit up.

"This… is… delicious!" she declared, taking another large spoonful of the soup. Mikey's face immediately shone with pride.

"Yay! Someone _else_ who likes my cooking!" he cheered in relief.

"You're amazing, Dr. Prankenstien," she winked, "Or would you rather I called you Dr. Flippinstein?"

Mikey visibly stiffened, his jaw dropping at the comment, before his grin returned full swing. "Whichever you prefer, madam!" He bowed as if he'd just done a performance and thousands of people were cheering his name. As she continued to eat, he suddenly sat down on the ground, his shell leaning against the couch. He moved the IV drip slightly out of the way.

"CJ? Can I ask you something?" Mikey's voice became suddenly serious.

"Of course you can," she smiled softly at the youngest turtle.

He looked at her with huge, sad eyes. "The others say that I could never have a human friend," he confessed, "And that no one would want to be my friend." His face became full of hope. "W-would you be my friend?"

CJ pondered this question for a moment, before donning an angry smile. "You think someone like me can be friends with someone like you?"

Mikey was taken aback by her tone. His face radiated utter shock. Then she continued.

"Because if that's what you thought…" Her face lost all anger and showed only tired kindness. "Then you'd be right."

Mikey let out a sigh of relief. "Dude, you sounded like Rad Brad for a minute there!"

CJ laughed. "I wanted to keep you in suspense. I didn't quote him directly because I didn't want to offend you. You're no freak. You're a great guy, Mikey, and I'd be honoured to be your friend." Then she smirked. "I thought I already was."

Mikey grinned at that. "Aww… thanks, CJ!" He looked around, before leaning in and lowering his voice to a whisper. "You know, you sound kind of like Raph. He said the same thing. About me being a great guy and all. Don't tell him that I told you or he'll beat me up."

"I won't," CJ smiled as she finished the soup. She stared down at the empty bowl, and then looked back at Mikey imploringly.

"Could I have some more?"

The orange-clad turtle let out a chuckle of surprise, grabbing the bowl. "Of course! Coming right up!"

As the youngest began refilling her bowl, a snort could be heard from the table as Leonardo finally jolted awake.

"Captain Ryan…" he murmured, before shaking his head to wake himself up.

"Pizza noodle soup?" Mikey offered his leader. Leo just looked up at him with disgust.

"I'm good," he replied, "What kind of freak would even eat that?"

"Thanks," CJ glared over at Leo as Mikey brought her another helping, "Real mature."

"CJ!" Leo immediately felt heat go to his face. "I didn't mean –"

"It's alright, Leo," she smirked, "Just don't say that to Leatherhead. Have a good nap?"

Leo looked relieved to be let off the hook. "Yeah. I'm pretty stiff from that position, though."

"Maybe we should call that position 'The Cramp Style of Sleep'."

Leo almost rolled his eyes at Mikey, until he realized that it was CJ who had spoken.

"You sounded just like Mikey!" the oldest turtle gawked at her.

"I seem to sound like a lot of people..." she noted.

"How's Spike doing?"

"He's with Raph. But he's doing much better now. It was just turtle depression, as the vet said."

"I did not see that coming."

"Yeah, who would have thought that Spike would have gotten so sick from Raph spending less time with him?" Mikey murmured as he went back to the pot of soup.

"Leo," CJ looked over at the leader before he could go back to sleep, "Could you come here for a second?"

"Sure," the blue-clad turtle wore a confused look on his face, but complied with her request. She patted the side of the couch, and he sat down in front of it, his head close to hers.

"Are you angry with Raph?" she wanted to know. Leonardo pondered her question for a few seconds.

"Well, I guess not, not anymore," he admitted, looking back at her, "I mean, with everything he had to go through, what with Spike getting sick and you getting a migraine –"

"No," CJ interrupted him, "I mean, in general, are you angry with him?"

Leo blinked, not really sure how to respond. "No," he began carefully, "I mean, he _does_ get on my nerves, and he's always angry and irritated all the time, not to mention that he always questions my leadership and beats us up…"

"So you _are_ angry with him," CJ stated.

"No!" Leo argued.

"Well, you don't seem to do anything but complain about him."

"That doesn't mean that I'm angry with him."

"Then who are you angry with?"

"I'm not angry with anyone!" Leo growled, becoming frustrated.

"Are you sure?" CJ asked, before looking back up at the ceiling.

Leo said nothing in reply. She'd made him think. _Was_ he angry? If so, why would he be angry? Raph was the hothead with no reason for anger, not him. He wasn't angry with anyone. Sure, he was irritated with the villains they fought, but that anger was justified. He wasn't angry with his brothers, or his father, or his friends, or even those who rejected them.

"If I had to guess," CJ broke his train of thought, "You're angry because Raph can so easily express himself. You're the leader. You're not supposed to get angry. If anything, you're angry with yourself."

"Why would I be angry with myself?" Leo blinked, lost.

"Because in your heart you want to be the best. Raph's the best fighter, and you know it. But you think you have to be the best. Which you don't."

"Well, I want to be the best I can be. Not exactly the best of all time."

"Let me tell you something," CJ moved to a sitting position, cradling the bowl of soup between her hands, "All four of you are technically angry. Mikey is angry because you and Raph never get along, and because he's never taken seriously. Donnie's angry because he can't think of a way to win April's heart, and because you doubt his efforts. You're angry because you're not the best, and because the others never listen to you." She stopped.

"And Raph?"

"Raph's angry because of you."

"Because of me?"

CJ nodded. "Because you're the leader, and he knows he can't handle it. Like when you let him take over and he let himself get overly anxious because of the pressure. Raph hates showing weakness, so when you guys see it and tease him about it, he gets angry. That's the reason why he has Spike, why he went out all those nights on a bike. It's a way to release all that anger. He doesn't want you to think of him as weak."

"But he's not weak."

"Then go tell him that." CJ laid back to go to sleep.

Leo nodded and got up to leave. But he didn't go to see Raph. He went to the training room instead.

"CJ's right," Leo murmured to himself as he began training, "I _am_ angry with Raph. That hothead's going to put us all in danger one day, just because he's too scared to show weakness."

He'd missed the point, and missed the figure shaking her head as she heard his words, disappointed in the leader.


	16. Chapter 15: Chat

The rest of the day transpired uneventfully. Master Splinter let Raphael take the day off, from cleaning at least, to care for Spike and to spend time with the unmutated turtle. Donatello spent the day with Bee, searching for any sign of the other robots, as Leonardo trained vigorously, venting his anger through his ninja moves. Michelangelo stayed by CJ's side, playing video games and reading comic books when she was asleep, and talking to her whenever she woke up. He made sure that there was always a bowl of pizza noodle soup nearby for when she got hungry.

"So you really do like it?" Mikey asked for the twentieth time, gesturing at the bowl of soup.

"Of course I do, Mikey!" CJ grinned as she ate another spoonful. "I wouldn't lie!"

"Okay, so I got a question for you."

"Shoot."

"What will happen if you don't get Bumblebee and his friends back to his home in time? The whole dimension blows up or something?"

"I guess so," CJ mused, "It's never happened to me before. My theory is that it will just collapse in on itself."

"So… what if like… a fly or a cat from their dimension entered ours? Would that wreck everything?"

"I don't think it would have a bearing. Just canonical characters, or main characters in the show, have an effect on the dimension."

"Oh… I see…"

"But it's just a theory. The problem with dimensional disturbances is that there's no science behind it. I have to discover everything for myself. Even then, there are some things that I can't risk discovering. Such as what happens to a dimension when it gets destroyed. Which I hope will never happen as long as I can help it."

There were a few seconds of silence, before they changed the subject.

"So you had a migraine, right? What can cause that?"

"Usually late nights… not enough sleep, not enough water… simple stuff like that."

"It's weird, though…"

"What?"

"Well, you had a lot of sleep before it happened… it just doesn't make sense to me."

"I have to agree with you, Mikey." The two of them turned, to see Donatello standing in the entrance to the garage. He had just come back from patrol, and Bee was taking a rest. "You had plenty of sleep… I'm wondering if it was the dimensional stress of getting here that gave it to you."

"No way!" CJ scoffed, "My body is used to this sort of thing!"

"Hmm…" Donnie didn't look very convinced at her words, "I'm not sure. It seems like a plausible explanation."

"Donnie, trust me, that's not it."

"Are you sure? I mean, there's no other explanation, unless you care to offer one…"

"I don't want to talk about it," she snapped, which surprised the brothers, as she didn't usually become irritated. CJ gave the bowl back to Mikey and faced the back of the couch, pulling the blanket over her head as she did so.

Donatello simply watched her, before walking off, shaking his head. Mikey looked from the genius to the girl, before finally speaking.

"I'm… I'm sorry, CJ… I didn't mean-"

"It's alright, Mikey," CJ replied without turning around, "Don't stress out over it. It's just something I don't want to talk about."

Mikey nodded, forgetting that she couldn't see him, and went back to watching TV.

Around the corner, in the shadows, two narrowed, bright green eyes watched the two of them. A small turtle rested in the figure's hands. The eyes looked down at the turtle, which had been slowly but surely recovering over its ordeal from the night before.

"Man… why would she _do_ that?" Raphael whispered to himself, and to Spike, infuriated, "Why would she jeopardize her entire mission… and possibly even herself… just to make sure you were safe?"

Spike looked up at his owner and blinked.

"Not that I'm complaining… it just doesn't make sense to me," he sighed, "Why would any human bother with any of us? Besides April of course, since we saved her, and all." Raph's gaze went back to the two of them in the main room. "She just came here… and didn't even leave after her watch was fixed… doesn't she have to find the other giant robot things? Why does she even bother with staying here and talking to us? I mean sure, she found Arcee, but that was just a coincidence that I happened to find it too. Plus she would find it anyway. So… what is she _really_ doing here? Besides recovering from that migraine?"

With another sigh, Raph went into the garage to check up on Arcee, who was still sleeping soundly. Bumblebee looked up as he entered.

"Find any of the others, Bee?"

Beep. The giant robot shook his head sadly. Raph said nothing more; he simply sat on the floor, rubbing Spike's shell, trying to wrap his mind around the mysterious girl in the living room.

**Sorry for the shorter chapter... the next one is much longer. This is kind of a chapter to make you think about what's going on.**


	17. Chapter 16: Out of the Lair

"Time to go, bros!"

Leonardo's voice rang out in the lair as he called from the turnstiles. Michelangelo and Donatello were at his side almost instantaneously, with Raphael looking up from the kitchen table where Spike sat, and Master Splinter watching them from the entrance to the training room. The hothead let out an angry growl as his brothers turned to leave.

"Don't worry, Raph!" Mikey called, "If any foot ninja or Kraang show up we'll call you and give you the blow by blow!"

"IF," Raph grumbled.

Master Splinter said nothing as his three sons said their goodbyes.

"Grr…" Raph growled, glaring at the table as his father turned and left. Spike blinked up at him before turning and drinking some water from a bowl. The red-clad turtle stood up and began pacing around the room, throwing a punch at the dummy that hung near the television every time he passed it.

He continued this for two minutes, before collapsing to the ground in front of the dummy, grabbing a comic book from the top of a large pile. An hour passed, the time slowly ticking by, until the T-Phone finally rang. Raph snatched it quickly, putting the green phone to his face. It was Leo.

"Hey Raph," his brother greeted.

"What's going on?"

"We may have discovered a new Kraang lair near central park. It's the Galligar Building, you know, the really tall quarter of an oval one? We're keeping an eye on it. Just thought you deserved to know. We'll text you if we need to go in."

"SUCKA!" Mikey's voice rang out from the background, taunting Raph, before the line went dead.

"Man... so not fair," he hissed, storming around the room, fists clenched.

"Mmm… Raph…?"

Raph stopped and turned his gaze towards the couch. He was behind it, so he couldn't see the owner of the voice until she sat up, wincing slightly at the pain. CJ turned to look at him.

"What's going on?"

The hothead said nothing, but simply stared at her.

"Let me guess," she went on with a yawn, "you're irritated because the others left on patrol, and you're stuck here."

Raph remained silent, confused by what she was getting at.

"Don't worry too much about it. There are gonna be times when this happens." CJ yawned, exhausted. Her voice became more tired. "Well, as long as you're here… Do you think you could… sing me a song?"

Raph maintained his silent, blank expression as he looked at her. He was totally and utterly confused. He didn't sing.

CJ lay back down on the couch. "Please… Raph…?" Raph simply said nothing, instead choosing to just walk away and go back to the kitchen table, completely ignoring her.

It was around this time that his T-phone buzzed. A text message from Leo had just arrived.

_Just letting you know… we're going to enter the Kraang's lair in a few minutes. And Mikey says sucker._

In a rage, Raph threw the T-Phone as hard as he could with a yell, and collapsed into one of the chairs next to the kitchen table, putting his head in his hands as he seethed.

"It seems that I have something of yours, Raphael."

Raph looked back, startled. Master Splinter had just come from the training room, his left hand clutching the T-Phone that he had caught, and the right behind his back.

"It's my brothers! They're about to go raid a Kraang base without me!"

"I can understand your frustration, Raphael," Master Splinter told him sympathetically, returning the T-Phone to him.

"It's just not fair, Sensei…" Raph groaned, "I just wanted a break and end up getting in trouble. I'm only at my third day of punishment and I'm already going stir crazy. If I hadn't put that blanket on her… she never would have woken up and none of this would be happening… though it's not really her fault. With everything that's happened so far… I'm just so stressed out."

Master Splinter said nothing in reply to this; he simply sat down and listened as his son ranted on.

"First the thing with CJ was terrifying, and I had to clean it up, then Arcee finally wakes up but faints, followed by my best friend getting lonely and then sick." Raph stood up and placed a medicated leaf on the table for Spike to chew on. "It's just one thing after another."

Master Splinter nodded, his face betraying no emotion.

"I don't even know why I went out with the bike in the first place. I _guess_ it was kind of stupid… but it still felt so good to feel the wind on my shell…"

"Raphael."

"Not to mention the speed! Man that bike went fast…"

"Raphael?"

"Just going and going, riding without a care in the world… so awesome… and now I can't do it. It's so not fair, and I-"

"RAPHAEL."

Surprised, the hothead immediately stopped speaking.

"You have obviously had a rough week," Master Splinter began, "And I understand where you are coming from as regards your decision regarding the motorcycle." The rat's eyes drifted to CJ for a split second, before returning to his son's. "It is because of this…" Splinter took a deep breath, contemplating his choice, before looking Raphael straight in the eyes, "…that I have decided to lighten your punishment."

Raph's eyes widened. "R-r-really?!"

Master Splinter nodded. "I may be your Sensei, but I am also your father and will show you some compassion. You shall be exempt of your punishment by tomorrow morning."

"Master Splinter… Sensei… I don't know what to say."

"A simple thank you will suffice."

"Right! T-thank you, Sensei!"

Master Splinter nodded as he stood up. "I expect you to act more responsibly next time, Raphael."

"Yes, Sensei. But… does this mean that…?"

"Yes, you may go join your brothers to, as you put it, 'bust some heads'."

Master Splinter walked off towards the training room, hiding the smile on his face as Raphael pumped the air.

"Oh, this rocks," he grinned, petting Spike's. "Just think, little guy, tomorrow morning and I'm officially off duty! Plus now I can go break some robots!" Raph whipped out his Sai, twirled them, before putting them back and giving Spike a small pat on his head.

Spike looked up and blinked at his owner.

"I'll see you later, little guy." With that, the hothead rushed off, and excited grin going from lack of ear to lack of ear.

Spike watched Raph run off, before turning around and returning to his leave, a smile on his little face.

Flinching at the pain, CJ sat up the moment Raphael had run out of the lair. She picked up the glasses that were on the floor and placed them on her face. Her hood had fallen off of her head, but she ignored it. She quietly slipped off of the couch, and began looking around the lair. If she could find what she was looking for, then it would be so worth it. Grabbing the IV drip, she slowly made her way down the hall.

"Now, where would they put it…" she murmured. She finally spotted a doorway without a door. "Perfect." She slipped inside. It was a laundry room, exactly what she wanted. "There's got to be one in here somewhere…" A flash of magenta caught her eye. There, in a garbage bag, was a set of magenta bandanas. Leo and Raph must have accidentally put their bandanas in at the same time for that to happen… Or maybe it was Raph and Don… Don and Leo?

Shaking her head, which caused more pain, CJ grabbed one of the magenta masks and made her way out of the lair.

Unbeknownst to her, Master Splinter was watching. He had a curious look on his face, wondering what this mysterious girl was going to do.


	18. Chapter 17: Well this really blows

Raph ran across the rooftops as fast as he could. The Galligar building was a good distance away, and if he wanted to get there in time, he had to motor. Oh man, would his brothers ever be surprised when they saw him! The first thing he planned to do was whack Mikey upside the head for a good five minutes.

As he made his way across the rooftops, he kept an eye out for any foot ninja. Sure, he'd be raring to go if they popped up, but he didn't want to get left out of the Kraang bashing either.

Raph breathed in the night air, Raph sighed, realizing how much he had missed patrolling the city, and how much he had missed above ground. For someone who had spent fifteen years in the sewers, it was strange how only a few days could make one go so stir crazy now that he was permitted above ground.

Soon, the Galligar building was in sight. He spotted his brothers discussing their plans on a lower rooftop, and changed his course so that he would fly above them. Boy, were they in for a heart attack.

As he ran, he could slowly but surely hear their conversation. Leo was the one speaking.

"…so it looks like there's no other entrance but this side one, right Don?"

"Right."

The roof right next to them was like a ramp, so Raph kept low to the ground as Mikey spoke.

"Man, I kinda wish Raph was here. He'd hate to miss that!"

And with perfect timing, he jumped off of the roof, into the vision of his brothers, and, doing a forwards flip, punched down right onto Mikey's head. The orange-masked turtle collapsed onto his plastron with a scream as Raph stood up on his younger brother's shell.

"Somebody call me?"

Don and Leo's mouths both dropped open as Mikey moaned beneath Raph's feet.

"Raph!" Leo hissed as loudly as he dared. "_What_ are you _doing_ here?!"

"Came to help. You'd get your sorry shells handed to you without me." Mikey moaned even more as Raph shifted his weight. "Spider Bytes was proof of that."

Leo put his head in his hand. "I mean what are you doing out of the lair?! Do you realize how much _trouble_ you're going to get into when you get back?!"

Raph rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh.

"Get over it, Hero boy. I left the lair because I could. And because I wanted to."

"Go back home. Now."

"No way."

Leo groaned loudly, before shaking his head. "Fine. It's your funeral."

Raph nodded, then socked Leo in the arm. Hard.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Touching Spike earlier."

"How'd you know it was me?"

"I smelled your nerdism on his shell. So what's the plan?"

"Side door, right there." Don gestured towards a small door on the front of the building as Leo glared at Raph, holding his sore arm. "It's the only way in."

Raph nodded, before he finally got off of Mikey. The youngest turtle began spitting out gravel that had ended up in his mouth because of all of his moaning.

"Let's go then." Leo's eyes became white, and the four brothers made their way down to the Galligar building, their green skin never touching the light. The silence was never broken by their movements, which was a happy surprise for Leo, since his brothers were always so loud.

It was quite odd for a Kraang hideout… no guards, no cameras, no retinal scanners or anything. Leo slid up to the door first and peered inside, before motioning for his brothers to follow.

The four turtles slipped inside of the Galligar building without being seen, like ninjas do. The plain, white hallway was surprisingly simple for a Kraang base; there was no technology anywhere. The bright hallway was completely empty except for a single door at the end of it.

"This is weird…" Leo muttered, "I bet it's a trap."

Mikey turned around to leave, but to his surprise… "The door's locked!"

Raph rolled his eyes. "Great observation, genius."

Donatello attempted to open it, but it was sealed tight. He took a few steps back to examine it. "Well that's weird…"

Then the door slid into the wall and vanished. The jaws of each turtle dropped simultaneously,

"Well, I guess we have no other choice but to go forwards," Leo unsheathed his katana and led the way to the ominous white metal door that was their only means of escape. He placed his hand on the handle, and, with a moment's hesitation, he slowly pulled it open and walked through the doorway.

The door led to the center of the Galligar building. The roof was about six stories high, with windows one story below the roof. There were no doors other than the one they had just come through. On the opposite wall was a balcony. The wall colour was a calming beige, and the floor was like a typical school gym floor.

"Well, nothing here!" Mikey grinned, "Let's go now!" He turned around, only to smack right into the wall and fall right onto his shell, his kurigasama clattering to the floor. Once again, the door had vanished.

"We're trapped!" Don cried out, helping Mikey to his feet.

"I bet the Kraang will be here any second," Leo muttered, taking a battle ready stance. Raph had done the same. But no Kraang appeared.

Suddenly, a loud buzzing noise could be heard, like a vacuum was approaching them. On their right, the top part of the wall moved, revealing a giant, dark blue hose. It began to intake air, and the brothers struggled to keep their footing. The kurigasama, left abandoned on the floor, were the first things to go.

"This is so not good!" Don cried out, as he attempted to hang onto his Bo Staff and the ground at the same time.

"My T-Phone!" Mikey gasped as the orange and green device flew from his reach. In an attempt to grab it, he barrelled into Leo, forcing the leader to drop his katana.

"Mikey!" Leo snarled, trying and failing to retrieve his swords.

"Nice going, stupid!" Raph yelled over the noise, as his and Don's T-Phones were the next thing to go.

"I think this vacuum has a magnetic pull on it as well!" Don realized, "The suction effect on our phones and weapons is stronger!"

"Wonderful!" Raph rolled his eyes as he jabbed his Sai into the ground in an effort to stay grounded, being the closest to the hose. "And _how_ is that going to help us?!"

"No clue!"

Mikey suddenly lost his footing on the ground and began to get sucked into the vortex. Leo dove tried to and pin his brother to the ground, losing the last T-Phone in the process. The two of them barrelled, screaming, towards Raph. Eyes wide, the red-clad turtle braced himself as his brothers crashed into him. He barely managed to keep his Sai planted into the ground. Mikey held onto Raph's right arm, and Leo gripped the other. It looked like they were going to be okay.

Unfortunately, this was exactly when Don's footing gave out, and, Bo staff horizontally placed, the genius flew directly towards his brothers. The Bo Staff, being in front of his face, collided with the Sai, dislodging them, and the four brothers went screaming towards the hose, the weapons a few metres in front of them. But the moment the weapons entered the hose, the suction suddenly stopped and went back into the wall. The turtles, carried by the momentum, flew right into the opposite wall with a large bang, before crumpling into a heap on the floor.

The moaning coming from the pile of green echoed through the room, before Don slowly got off of his brothers. Raph was next, and Donnie helped Leo to his feet. Mikey was looking a little flat as the older turtles finally got off of him.

"I'm sensing a pattern here…" he groaned, eventually getting to his feet.

"Well, we're weaponless, what now?" Don turned to Leo.

"Now, we wait," Leo sighed resolutely. Raph let out a growl at this.

They weren't waiting long, perhaps only a minute, before four spots began to glow on the other side of the large room.

Leo went forward cautiously, as Raph simply brushed past him and glared down at the glowing spots.

"What _is_ this?" he muttered.

As Donnie and Mikey slowly came up behind Leo, a soft, gentle laughter could be heard somewhere above them.

"Who's there?" Leo looked around.

"Show yourself!" Raph hissed, glaring at nothing and taking a fighting pose, "Come out and fight!"

The laughter continued for a few moments, before it faded away, replaced by a voice. "Silly turtles, you have nothing to worry about. I won't hurt you!"

Donatello pointed up at the balcony once he had reached the glowing spots. The brothers could now see that certain part of the wall that the balcony was attached to was a slightly different colour, and a silhouette was visible. The silhouette was a side view, and a female human, from the pose. The top part of her was clearly visible and defined, while her bottom half was simply a half-cylinder, probably the bottom part of a dress.

"Why have you trapped us here?" Leo demanded.

The silhouette laughed again. "You are all free to leave, my friends! But I have a single request before you do so."

"Yeah, right, like we'll do anything for you!" Raph spat.

"And we don't even know your name! We can't be friends if we don't know your name!" Mikey added. Raph smacked him upside the head.

"My apologies," the girl replied, "My name is Princess Kralista. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. And you are…?"

"I'm Mikey! The tall turtle is Donnie, the angry guy is Raph, and the last one's Leo!" Mikey chirped happily. His brothers shook their heads in exasperation as the princess took in their names.

"So, uh, Princess," Leo began, "What is it you want us to do?"

"Well, you see, it's been so dreadfully _boring _here. I haven't had any good entertainment in a while. My request, therefore, is actually quite simple. All I require is that each one of you must sing me a song from a given selection. The genre mustn't be the same, as well."

The ninjas exchanged surprised looks. "…You're kidding, right?" Raph wanted to know, flabbergasted.

"I am not," the princess replied firmly. "You shall acquire your freedom when you have sung me a song. The order you sing may either be alphabetically by your names, or by your mask colours. I shall give you a moment to decide."


	19. Chapter 18: Don's Descant

The turtles gathered into a huddle. "We aren't seriously going to do this, are we?" Raph muttered, looking at Leo.

"Well, the way I see it," Leo replied thoughtfully, "We can either sing and leave without anyone getting hurt, or we refuse and suffer the consequences."

"Suffertheconsequencessuffertheconsequencessuffert heconsequences," Raph whispered desperately.

"I kinda want to sing!" Mikey admitted, "Karaoke was really fun! Plus it's not like we have an audience!"

"And it's not like we have to be _good_," Donnie shot Raph a quick look. "All we have to do is sing…"

"Yeah but if she's not happy with our singing she might not let us go," Leo reasoned, "So if the worst singer goes first, and we steadily get better, then she might let each of us go free, whereas if she isn't impressed by, say, Donnie, because Mikey was better, then she might not let him leave this place."

"Wait, you nutbars are seriously _considering_ this?" Raph growled. "You've gotta be kidding me! We're a team of _ninjas!_ Not a _boy band_!"

"It's three against one, Raph," Don replied, "Plus it's safer."

"Oh no, I did NOT leave the lair to deal with this."

"Hey, you left, you have to suffer the consequences," Leo told him firmly.

"I'd rather suffer the consequences of not singing," Raph muttered.

"So we'll go by name then," Leo replied resolutely, "Since Don was the worst when we were doing Karaoke."

"Thanks a lot…"

"Sorry, bro."

"It's okay."

"Which means that you get to go last, Raph. Hope you're good."

"Oh joy."

"Have you made your decision?" Princess Kralista prompted.

"Yes. We'll go alphabetically," Leo told her.

"Good. Please stand on the glowing spaces on the floor in the order that you will go."

Donatello stood on the far left space. Next came Leonardo, followed by Michelangelo. The three of them stared at Raphael, who finally let out a hiss and took his place on the far right, muttering under his breath.

"Very well. I assume that you are Donnie?"

"Yes," Donnie replied with a nod.

"Alright then. You will go first." A hole opened in the floor on the other half of the room, halfway between the turtles and the balcony, and a small, white, futuristic podium slowly rose up. Attached to the right side of the podium was a plain, black, cordless microphone. The top of the podium was lit up, as it was a touch screen. Another spot was illuminated on the floor, directly in front of the podium.

"Please step up to the podium and choose your song," the princess told him.

With another nod, the genius began to approach the newest glowing space. After he had crossed the halfway point, a large sheet of glass quickly lifted from the floor, splitting him apart from his brothers. Donatello spun around and began pounding on the glass, panicked, and his brothers attempted to race forwards. All three of them ended up on their faces.

"Not again," Mikey moaned, rubbing his nose, "I'm gonna have a huge bruise tomorrow…"

Leo looked down at his feet as he struggled to stand up once more. They had been attached to the floor by black harnesses. How they had appeared without them noticing was a mystery.

"Yo, princess!" Raph shouted, infuriated, as he got back to his feet. "What's the big idea?!"

"No one must interfere with the song," Kralista replied, "The glass will be removed when Donnie has finished his song. Then he shall be set free."

"How'd you get the restraints on without us noticing?" Leo was curious.

"They are energy restraints. If you are standing still you do not even feel them."

"Oh." He and Raph helped Mikey to return to a standing position as Donnie finally gave up on pounding on the glass and went towards the podium. There were four different genres of songs he could pick from.

_Well, logically, I'll choose the last one…_ he thought to himself, _since it's the only one I'm good at…_

Donnie tapped on the genre he had chosen. A male, electronic voice rang through the room.

"You have chosen… Techno!"

"There's a shock," Raph muttered to himself.

"Please choose a song from the ones given," the princess instructed. "The lyrics for your chosen song will appear on the touch screen once you have selected one."

With a nod, Don scrolled through the four songs he could pick. His eyes lit up as he spotted one of his absolute favourite techno songs. Without hesitation, his tapped his large green finger on the song he wanted.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes, princess," Donnie snatched up the microphone, before clearing his throat as the tune of the song began to play. The male voice spoke the title of the song and the original singer.

"Ravers in the UK, by the Italobrothers."

Don readied himself, and the first words of the song appeared on the screen.

watch?v=l1SKiTeO5fM

_Uptown, downtown_

_All around the world we gonna jump now, jump now_

_Every boy and girl because we need, more, hardcore_

_Mayday, Mayday, Ravers in the UK _

_Uptown, downtown_

_All around the world we gonna jump now, jump now_

_Every boy and girl because we need, more, hardcore_

_Mayday, Mayday, Ravers in the UK_

Don chose not to sing for the repeat Oh, jump, section of the song, and instead let the music fill the room as he caught his breath. But he was ready for the line between these parts.

_Oh oh, Oh oh oh_

_Jump! Jump! (3x)_

_Put your hands up in the air (2x)_

_Ravers in the UK_

_Here comes the beat, the reggaetone move_

_Shake you loose while your body boom boom_

_Rock me lady don_

_Drop me baby low_

_Feel the bass drum shaking the room._

_Oh oh_

_Tell me are you ready?_

_Oh oh_

_You´re my fantasy_

_Oh oh_

_Music is my energy_

_The rhythm is rockin' and droppin' the heat_

_The bigger the bottom, the bigger the beat_

Leo looked at his genius younger brother in surprise. "He is pretty good… he looks really comfortable up there. I'm surprised he chose this song, though. It doesn't seem like his style."

_Uptown, downtown_

_All around the world we gonna jump now, jump now_

_Every boy and girl because we need, more, hardcore_

_Mayday, Mayday, Ravers in the UK _

_Uptown, downtown_

_All around the world we gonna jump now, jump now_

_Every boy and girl because we need, more, hardcore_

_Mayday, Mayday, Ravers in the UK_

_Oh oh, Oh oh oh_

_Jump! Jump! (3x)_

_Put your hands up in the air_

_Ring the alarm let the melody speak_

_For all the people in every country_

_Up, you're taking me high girl_

_You're making me._

_Cause Mr. Lover Lover's bringing the heat_

"I bet Don wishes that he could say that to April!" Mikey whispered mischievously, causing his older brothers to snicker.

_Oh oh_

_Mixing up the styling_

_Oh oh_

_Taking it back to the 90_

_Oh oh_

_Feels a little crazy_

_Give it up, we just don't care_

_Put your hands up in the air_

_Uptown, downtown_

_All around the world we gonna jump now, jump now_

_Every boy and girl because we need, more, hardcore_

_Mayday, Mayday, Ravers in the UK_

_Uptown, downtown_

_All around the world we gonna jump now, jump now_

_Every boy and girl because we need, more, hardcore_

_Mayday, Mayday, Ravers in the UK_

"Good grief… this song is so annoying and repetitive…" Raph grumbled, "No wonder Don likes it."

_Oh oh, Oh oh oh_

_Jump! Jump! (3x)_

_Put your hands up in the air_

_Uptown, downtown_

_All around the world we gonna jump now, jump now_

_Every boy and girl because we need, more, hardcore_

_Mayday, Mayday, Ravers in the UK_

Don was sweating hard by the time he had finished the song. He placed the microphone back into its holder as the princess applauded his singing.

"That was magnificent, Donnie!" she cheered, "Very well done!"

The glass wall began to sink back into the ground, much to the turtles' surprise. They hadn't expected her to keep her word.

"Please return to your original space."

Donnie did so, relieved that it was over. But instead of a door appearing somewhere in the room, a small cage shot down from the ceiling, trapping Donnie inside.


	20. Chapter 19: Leo's Lyrics, Mikey's Music

"Ack!" Donnie cried out. The cage was just big enough, and rounded at the top. It was like a human-sized bird cage with no room to move.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" Raph struggled against the restraints that were still on his feet.

"Such impatience!" the princess laughed as the cage was lifted into the air. It flew over the others' heads, before a part of the wall moved and Donatello disappeared from the room, screaming his brothers' names.

"Where are you taking him?" Leo demanded.

"Give it a moment…" she murmured.

Another panel in the wall moved, revealing a thick pane of glass. Donatello stood in a small room on the other side. He waved at his brothers, before going over to the side and picking up his Bo Staff and T-Phone from an unseen slot.

"Hey," Mikey realized, "isn't that April?"

The redhead waved at them, before tapping Donnie's shell. The genius freaked out when he saw her, his face going redder than Raph's mask, and by the way he was frantically moving his arms, they supposed that she had heard his performance.

"What's she doing here?" Raph wanted to know.

"We texted her on our T-Phones to let her know about the Galligar building. She was supposed to be our #4. I suppose she went into another entrance."

"Great. Replace me with a rookie. A _female_ rookie. Nice going."

Leo was about to retort when Kralista cut off their conversation.

"Leo, it's your turn." The leader watched as the restraints vanished, and he approached the podium, while Raph had begun to yank on the harnesses in an effort to get them off. He did not want to sing. At all.

"Please choose the genre you would like from the remaining three."

Leo looked down at the screen. True to her word, three options remained. His eyes narrowed at the second option, and was about to select the first, figuring that Mikey would want the second, when he spotted the third option.

_If I choose the third option… Mikey will definitely pick the second… meaning Raph will be forced to take the first._ A cruel grin crossed his face. _That would be hilarious if Raph's stuck with the first option… and he _totally_ deserves it for everything he's put us through!_

Without another thought, he slammed his hand onto the third option. The male voice rang out.

"You have chosen… Rock and Roll!"

"Didn't see that one coming," Mikey murmured.

"Please select a song from the ones I have given you," Kralista told him.

"Alright. Let's see here…" Leo scanned the song selection until he spotted a song that he really enjoyed, and selected it.

"Okay, Princess, I'm ready to go," Leo announced, grabbing the microphone.

"His World, by Zebrahead."

The music began to play, and Leo took in a big breath.

watch?v=3VHnFwVskl0

_C'mon and light the fuse, he's a rocket and he's ready to go_

_'Cause now the countdown has started and it's ready to blow_

_He's got the cool sounds pumpin' in his stereo (-eo!)_

_Kickin' out fast, puttin on a show_

_Go on and get yourself together, there's no time to rest_

_And if you put the time in, he'll put you to the test_

_He's like a running man, in his world more is less_

_And if you wanna test him best, bring your best_

_Don't make me spell it out, bring your best!_

_In this world (His world!)_

_Where life is strong_

_In this world (His world!)_

_Life's an open book_

_In this world (His world!)_

_Where compromise does not exist_

_In his world of worlds, every step meets the rest!_

_In this world (His world!)_

_Where one is all_

_In this world (His world!)_

_Never fear the fall_

_In this world (His world!)_

_Where compromise does not exist_

_In his world of worlds, every step meets the rest!_

"Go Leo!" Mikey cheered. Raph simply rolled his eyes, giving up on freeing his feet

_Runnin' it back again, well what'dja expect?_

_Comin' out to win ten outta ten, got a real rough neck!_

_Spikes up his liberty, and straps on his shoes_

_'Cause he's the best there ever was, haven't ya heard the news?_

_Intergalactic, continental champ runnin' things_

_Hyperactive, intstrumental, and pulling strings_

_He is the one who understands when the tides will swing_

_So he's breakin' down doors, never following_

_C'mon and psyche yourself up, 'cause it's time to play_

_Bounce to the beats and the rhymes, 'cause they're here to stay_

_The one and only never bored man, livin' the day_

_Movin' up, comin' fast and he'll blow you away!_

_Because the pressures of this world, they can take their toll_

_And it's tough to get away when we take ahold_

_The only way to break free is to break the mold_

_You can't stop now, c'mon let's go_

_Don't stop now, c'mon, rock n' roll!_

_In this world (His world!) (Gotta make your own way!)_

_Where life is strong_

_In this world (His world!) (Life is just a game you play!)_

_Life's an open book_

_In this world (His world!) (Nothing's forever here to stay!)_

_Where compromise does not exist_

_In his world of worlds, every step meets the rest!_

_In this world (His world!) (Gotta make your own way!)_

_Where one is all_

_In this world (His world!) (Life is just a game you play!)_

_Never fear the fall_

_In this world (His world!) (Nothing's forever here to stay!)_

_Where compromise does not exist_

_In his world of worlds, every step meets the rest!_

As the song hit an instrumental interlude, Leo took the time to catch his breath, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

_Light the fuse on this rocket and it's ready to go_

_Cause now the countdown has started and it's ready to blow_

_(In his world...!)_

_(Where one is all) Intergalactic, continental champ runnin' things_

_Hyperactive, intstrumental and pulling strings_

_(In his world...!)_

_(Never fear the fall)_

_(In his world...!) The only way to break free is to break the mold!_

_You can't stop now, c'mon let's go_

_(His world!) I said you can't stop now, c'mon let's go_

_(HIS WORLD!) Don't stop now, c'mon and rock n' roll!_

Leo grinned up at the balcony, returning the mic to its original place.

"That was very well done, Leo!" Kralista cheered, clapping, "I greatly enjoyed that piece very much! You are quite talented!"

The glass wall descended once more, and Leo returned to his previous place. Knowing what to expect, he was completely calm when the cage popped up and lifted him to where Don and April were waiting.

"Nice job, Leo!" April congratulated him as he was deposited into the small room.

"Thanks, April! Glad you got here safe!"

"Don told me about what's going on. So you have to sing for your freedom?"

"Pretty much," Leo answered as he grabbed his katana and T-Phone that were resting in a large tray.

"They showed up after you were caged," Don explained.

"So Mikey's next then," April turned her attention back towards where the two other turtles stood. The restraints were disappearing from Mikey's ankles, and he seemed really excited as he went over to the podium to select his song.

"Yep!" Leo did his best not to sound too excited. It was a good thing that he had been given his T-Phone. He didn't want to miss the opportunity to record Raph's singing. So long as Mikey chose the correct song genre.

And sure enough… "You have chosen… Rap and Pop!"

Don's eyes widened. "Wait. That means that Raph gets–"

"Yep!" Leo's mouth spread into a wide grin.

April looked from Don to Leo. "What?"

"Oh, you'll see," Leo smirked, rubbing his hands together as the song Mikey chose was broadcasted into their ears.

"Shell shock, by Gym Class Heroes."

Mikey made a pose as the music began, and added his own dance moves to the song as he started to sing.

watch?v=bm1dPijvYeI

_Skilly bebop beat rocks, steady over kicks and snares_

_So what you scared for, unprepared for_

_Tunnel rat schematics, score from your average rappers new era_

_We rocking sewer caps_

_Breathing bricks, exhale train rails_

_City light better spot us with the nonsense behind us_

_This is how we do it_

_I'm just a hooligan drunk while pillaging, spitting raw sewage_

_Splinter cell movements, turnstile jumper_

_Punks step up to get beat down bumper_

_Aliens and bright colors_

_So bright, we be crying like late night mothers_

_Hover board kick flips land it a little to the left_

_As you can bet every result was a split lip_

_Skipped school make shortcuts_

_Act foolish like kids with the windows on the short bus_

_Welcome to shell shock_

_Ringing in your ears like the bells that el rock_

_It doesn't matter whether or not the cell locks_

_See if you can find solace in the coldest cell block_

_This is shell shock_

_Welcome to shell shock_

_Ringing in your ears like the bells that el rock_

_It doesn't matter whether or not the cell locks_

_See if you can find solace in the coldest cell block_

_This is shell shock_

_Welcome to shell shock_

Raph did a mental face palm as Mikey did the worm. "Mikey… why are you such a nut?"

_I did it my way_

_Sat back and let 'em live soft so they can die hard yippie kah yay_

_We exist is the circles_

_So the first grade that pushed me get boxed out like girl scout cookies_

_This is not a test, we don't trust you not a fan of men(That rock UGG boots)_

_I don't understand(Can you blame me?)_

_I guess that's just the way(My pop's raised me)_

_A penny for a thought, a nickel for a swift fist to the face_

_For letting them think that I let my players go to waste(Nope)_

_Top of the food chain, but way too cool to not drop a little_

_Sarcasm in your water main_

_D- did I stutter man?_

_C-could you please make a toast for the k-kicker?'Cause you know I'm spittin' water man_

_Same day, new day dismantled_

_Same travie time, same travie channel_

"He's really good at this," April stared at the fun-loving turtle.

"Probably practices singing instead of his ninja moves," Don laughed.

"Don't remind me…" Leo muttered, reflecting on how hard it was to get the youngest turtle to train.

_Welcome to shell shock_

_Ringing in your ears like the bells that el rock_

_It doesn't matter whether or not the cell locks_

_See if you can find solace in the coldest cell block_

_This is shell shock (x6)_

Mikey bowed when he had finished the song. Kralista seemed to have really enjoyed it, for she was applauding and whistling.

"Magnificent! Beautiful! Stupendous!" she declared, "You definitely deserve your freedom for that performance, Mikey!"

"Ah thank you," Mikey waved at her as he went back to the glowing spots. He was soon deposited into the same room as his brothers and April, and he pumped the air.

"That rocked!" he exclaimed, high-threeing April.

"You were awesome!" she laughed.

The four of them turned to look at Raph, who was standing defiantly on the last glowing space.


	21. Chapter 20: Raph's Refrain

"Raph, it is finally your turn," the princess told him.

"Oh no. I am _not_ singing anything. I'm a ninja, not someone's mp3 player!"

"But it was such a simple request…" Kralista sounded hurt, "I thought you would all be open to it! I've been so bored!"

"I'm nobody's entertainment!" (**A/N: Irony, irony, irony**)

"Very well…" Kralista sighed, disappointed, "If that is what you wish, then that is your decision."

"Good," Raph nodded, satisfied, "Now let me and my brothers out of here."

"Your brothers are free to go… but you are not."

"WHAT?! WHY NOT?!" Raph took a menacing step forwards, infuriated.

"You all stood on the spaces, and all agreed to the terms."

"I didn't agree to nothing!"

"But you stood on the space. The deal was that you would be set free when you have sung me a song." The princess then tried to sound reassuring. "But it wouldn't be long or anything! Only… like… two minutes!"

"Forget it."

"Would you like to know the consequences, then?"

"Yeah I would." Raph folded his arms.

"Well, you would be kept prisoner here, forced to care for my every needs, and if you ever did anything incorrectly, or if you ever snapped at me, or if I was just displeased with you, like I am now, I'd dangle you over a vat of lava."

Raph gulped at that. "Um… how long did you say the song had to be?"

"Only two minutes! Please, Raph?"

Raph growled, stamping his foot in defeat. "Fine… let's get this over with…" He stormed up to the podium. The glass wall didn't appear this time, as he was the last one. He looked down at the song selection, and his jaw dropped. His eyes widened and he visibly stiffened at the last genre that remained as the colour drained from his face, and then, after a few more seconds, the colour returned, and a blush covered his face instead. The hothead was completely paralyzed with shock.

"…Is something the matter?"

"Uh, yeah, are you sure that this is the only genre that I can do…? Aren't there any others…?"

"I'm really sorry, that's the last one we have… it's all the music I know about…"

"So I can't repeat the others…?"

"Yeah, I know… it's a dumb rule… I can't do anything about it though. I didn't make it… I'm sorry."

"…and… what were the consequences again?"

"Prisoner, servant, lava."

"Right." Raph, finger shaking with embarrassment, hesitantly pressed the final option.

_Please don't say it…_

"You have chosen… romance!"

_Of course…_

In the other room, Don, Leo, and Mikey had all burst into laughter, tears flowing from their eyes. April ignored them and simply watched.

Raph scrunched up his shoulders as he looked at the song selection, gritting his teeth.

_Man… I don't know any of these… first time I wish that I actually listened to Don's 'April Track'…_

As he reached the bottom, his eyes came across a song he actually knew. It was mostly in Dutch, with a couple of English lines. Unfortunately, he knew it well, and it was the only one he knew well enough to sing. With a defeated sigh, he pressed the song.

"Thank you, Raph!" the princess cheered.

"Yeah, whatever," Raph stared at the screen, his face heating up even more. "Let's just get this over with."

"Stop the time, by Mainstreet."

Raph grit his teeth as the song began, and glared at the words as they flashed across the touchscreen.

watch?v=ArxUtxo_IsU

(Translation at the bottom)

_Ja ze lacht zo mooi_

_En als ik met haar praat_

_Is het net alsof de hele wereld stil staat_

_Al zegt ze enkel hoi_

_Weet ik mij geen raad_

_Ben opeens helemaal van de kaart_

"Wow, he's really, _really_ good at this," April murmured, ignoring the laughter.

_So many words to say_

_Maar mijn lippen werken nu niet mee_

_De manier waarop ze naar me kijkt oh_

_Ja mijn hart klopt in m'n keel_

_Hoop dat dit nooit meer verdwijnt no_

_Zij is alles wat ik wil_

_Ze ziet het niet maar zij is beautiful_

_She's always on my mind_

_En wanneer ze naar me kijkt oh_

_It will almost stop the time_

"What language is he singing in?" April wanted to know.

"Dutch," Donatello explained.

"I didn't know he knew Dutch!"

Michelangelo managed to catch his breath from all of his laughing. "Y-yeah, Splinter taught us all sorts of languages!"

Leonardo smirked. "I didn't even know that Raph knew this song!"

Back on stage, Raphael shut his eyes. Why couldn't this song be over already?

_Ze is zo uniek_

_Er is niemand zo cool_

_Ja ik hoop dat ze ziet hoe ik me voel_

_So many words to say_

_Maar mijn lippen werken nu niet mee_

_De manier waarop ze naar me kijkt oh_

_Ja mijn hart klopt in m'n keel_

_Hoop dat dit nooit meer verdwijnt no_

_Zij is alles wat ik wil_

_Ze ziet het niet maar zij is beautiful_

_She's always on my mind_

_En wanneer ze naar me kijkt oh_

_It will almost stop the time_

_Uooooooh stop the time_

_uooooooh_

"Well he's very good at this song," April shot a glare at the other turtles, who had returned to their laughter.

"'She's always on my mind'!" Mikey imitated, causing them all to go for another round of laughs.

_De manier waarop ze naar me kijkt oh_

_Ja mijn hart klopt in m'n keel_

_Hoop dat dit nooit meer verdwijnt no_

_Zij is alles wat ik wil_

_Almost done, _Raph thought. He was completely humiliated.

_De manier waarop ze naar me kijkt oh_

_Ja mijn hart klopt in m'n keel_

_Hoop dat dit nooit meer verdwijnt no_

_Zij is alles wat ik wil_

_Ze ziet het niet maar zij is beautiful (zei is beautiful)_

_She's always on my mind_

_En wanneer ze naar me kijkt oh_

_It will almost stop the time_

_Uoooooooh stop the time_

_Uoooooooh_

_And it will almost stop the time_

The song finally finished, and Raph let out a sigh of relief. His eye twitched as he could barely make out his brothers' insane laughter.

"That was beautiful, Raph…" Kralista sniffed. She was crying.

"Great, now for the brotherly humiliation." Raph muttered as he stormed back to the glowing spaces. But no cage descended. _Sure, prolong my pain. Of course._

"Raph, I have a proposition for you."

"So do I. Let me go home."

"Hold on… I wish to show you my true self."

The panel separating the silhouette from the rest of the room slowly rose up, and Raph and April both went slack-jawed. For, instead of a human princess, there was a giant brain wearing a crown.

"Um… guys…?" April whispered, "You might want to take a look at this?"

Mikey was the first to get up, still laughing. "W-what is it AprOH MY FLYING HAMSTRINGS!"

At Mikey's exclamation, both Don and Leo stood up, and screamed at what they saw.

"It's a giant KRAANG!" Leo cried, pounding on the glass in a vain attempt to get to Raph.

"That does explain why the silhouette never moved at all…" Don realized panickedly.

"Please, do not be alarmed," the Kraang gurgled, moving up to the edge of the balcony, "I… I am friendly, I promise!"

Raph took a fighting pose, even though he was much more vulnerable without his sai.

"I… I wish to make an offer with you," Kralista went on, "You sang the love song, so I need to ask… will you marry me?"

* * *

Ohsnap. Tell me what you think of the song so far!

General Song Translation:

Yes she smiles so beautiful

And when I talk to her

It is as if the world stopped

Although she just says hi

I know my wit

Ben suddenly disappear from the map

So many words to say

But my lips are now working not count

The way she looks at me oh

Yes my heart beats in my throat

Hope this never disappears no

She is everything I want

They do not see it, but she is beautiful

She's always on my mind

And when she looks at me oh

It will almost stop the time

She is so unique

There is none so cool

Yes I hope she sees how I feel

So many words to say

But my lips are now working not count

The way she looks at me oh

Yes my heart beats in my throat

Hope this never disappears no

She is everything I want

They do not see it, but she is beautiful

She's always on my mind

And when she looks at me oh

It will almost stop the time

Uooooooh stop the time

uooooooh

The way she looks at me oh

Yes my heart beats in my throat

Hope this never disappears no

She is everything I want

The way she looks at me oh

Yes my heart beats in my throat

Hope this never disappears no

She is everything I want

They do not see it, but she is beautiful (said is beautiful)

She's always on my mind

And when she looks at me oh

It will almost stop the time

Uoooooooh stop the time

Uoooooooh

And it will almost stop the time


	22. Chapter 21: Battle of the Bachelorettes

The five friends were completely floored.

"Y-you're kidding me… right?" Raph was completely taken aback.

Kralista blushed. "No, no I am not. I am completely serious. You sang the love song."

"So wait, if I hadn't sung the love song, you wouldn't have asked?"

"Most likely not, no. But I want you to come with me to my dimension and live as Prince in my castle. Of course, we'll give you a device that lets you breathe. That is the main reason why I am here… to find a Prince Charming. Also, Earth is a nice vacation spot."

Leo went pale. "No, no, no!" he whispered, "This is all my fault! If I hadn't been looking for revenge… none of this would have happened! It should be me!"

"Whoa, Leo, you okay?" Mikey tilted his head in confusion as the leader punched the wall.

"Please accept!" Kralista urged.

"Umm…" Raph was too shocked to reply.

"Now hold on just one second here!"

Raph and the princess looked around in confusion. The others attempted to see what was going on.

From the five story window, another turtle stood. They gripped the window pane with their right hand, and a familiar looking IV drip in the other. Sitting down on the sill, the female turtle hooked the base of the IV drip to the base of the sill, before sliding down and holding onto the pole with their right hand. This lowered the drop by two stories. The turtle thrust their pole-holding arm upwards, causing the IV drop to come free, and the turtle fell the rest of the way to the floor, landing hard on the ground, left knee and hand touching the floor, as the right foot was flat on the floor and the right hand was extended, holding the IV drip. A familiar looking black watch on their left wrist glimmered in the light, and magenta bandana tails landed delicately on their right shoulder.

"Who are you?" the Kraang princess asked, confused.

"My name is CJ," the turtle replied.

"CJ?!" Everyone but Kralista gaped at the turtle. Her expression was stone-cold.

"Honestly, I thought she was the princess for some reason," April admitted, utterly floored.

"You cannot take Raph back to your dimension," CJ explained, "He has to stay here."

Kralista seemed to ponder this. "Very well… It appears that we have reached an impasse." With one of her arms, she gestured towards the podium. "Shall we have a sing-off to see who shall win his affections?" Raph glanced Kralista, and then CJ, in complete and utter confusion and shock.

"Very well," CJ nodded, "You may go first if you wish."

"Thank you very much," Kralista backed up and selected a button that was on the balcony.

"Miracle, by Cascada."

And with that, Kralista began to sing.

_Boy meets girl_

_You were my dream, my world_

_But I was blind_

_You cheated on me from behind_

_So on my own_

_I feel so all alone_

_Though I know it's true_

_I'm still in love with you…_

"She's really good, too…" April bit her lip.

"CJ looks totally focused," Don added, "And… kind of angry, too."

"She can do it!" Mikey reassured everyone.

"I hope she can…" Leo murmured, "If anyone can fix my mistake, she can… she's our only hope right now…"

h watch?v=S5pAfZxATVc

_I need a miracle_

_I wanna be your girl_

_Give me a chance to see_

_That you are made for me_

_I need a miracle_

_Please let me be your girl_

_One day you'll see it can happen to me_

_I need a miracle_

_I wanna be your girl_

_Give me a chance to see_

_That you are made for me_

_I need a miracle_

_Please let me be your girl_

_One day you'll see it can happen to me_

_It can happen to me_

_Miracle... Miracle [echo]_

_Day and night_

_I'm always by your side_

_Cause I know for sure_

_My love is real my feelings pure_

_So take a try_

_No need to ask me why_

_Cause I know it's true_

_I'm still in love with you_

Raph looked at CJ nervously. He had heard her sing… she was good, but… was she good enough?

_I need a miracle..._

_I wanna be your girl_

_Give me a chance to see_

_That you are made for me_

_I need a miracle_

_Please let me be your girl_

_One day you'll see it can happen to me_

_I need a miracle_

_I wanna be your girl_

_Give me a chance to see_

_That you are made for me_

_I need a miracle_

_Please let me be your girl_

_One day you'll see it can happen to me_

_It can happen to me_

_Miracle... Miracle [echo]_

_Miracle... Miracle [echo]_

Kralista smiled to herself as the song finished.

"You are very good. Now it is my turn." CJ went up to the podium.

"Thank you. Do your best!"

With a nod, CJ typed in a song, and hit enter. Thankfully, it was selectable.

"Wings, by Little Mix."

The jazzy music began, and CJ snatched up the microphone. Everyone was surprised at the song she chose. They had expected her to pick another love song.

watch?v=IsbhMLjQgMc

_Mamma told me not to waste my life_

_She said spread your wings my little butterfly_

_Don't let what they say keep you up at night_

_And if they hear you shh... _

_Then they can walk on by_

_My feet, feet can't touch the ground_

_And I can't hear a sound_

_But you just keep on running up your mouth yeah_

_Walk, walk on over there_

_'Cos I'm too fly to care, oh yeah_

_Your words don't mean a thing_

_I'm not listening_

_Keep talking, all I know is_

_Mamma told me not to waste my life_

_She said spread your wings my little butterfly_

_Don't let what they say keep you up at night_

_And they can't detain you_

_'Cos wings are made to fly_

_And we don't let nobody bring us down_

_No matter what you say it won't hurt me_

_Don't matter if I fall from the sky_

_These wings are made to fly_

"I wonder why she chose that song and not a love song?" Mikey wanted to know.

"No clue…" Don murmured, "Maybe it has something to do with how cold her expression is…"

_I'm firing up on that runway_

_I know we're gonna get there someday_

_But we don't need no ready steady go, no_

_Talk, talk turns into air_

_And I don't even care, oh yeah_

_Your words don't mean a thing_

_I'm not listening_

_Keep talking, all I know is_

_Mamma told me not to waste my life_

_She said spread your wings my little butterfly_

_Don't let what they say keep you up at night_

_And they can't detain you_

_'Cos wings are made to fly_

_And we don't let nobody bring us down_

_No matter what you say it won't hurt me_

_Don't matter if I fall from the sky_

_These wings are made to fly_

_She's good, _Kralista thought to herself, _I wonder who Raph will choose… we are both fairly skilled._

_I don't need no one saying hey, hey, hey, hey_

_I don't hear no one saying hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey_

_You better keep on walking_

_I don't wanna hear your talking BOY'D_

_You better keep on walking_

_I don't wanna hear your talking BOY'D_

_Your words don't mean a thing_

_I'm not listening_

_They're just like water off my wings_

_Mamma told me not to waste my life_

_She said spread your wings my little butterfly_

_Don't let what they say keep you up at night_

_And they can't detain you_

_'Cos wings are made to fly_

_And we don't let nobody bring us down_

_No matter what you say it won't hurt me_

_Don't matter if I fall from the sky_

_These wings are made to fly_

CJ finished the song with a flourish. Kralista applauded her performance.

"That was amazing, CJ!" she nodded. "We are both equally skilled. This will be hard for Raph to decide."

"Wait, what?" Raph looked from the brain to the female turtle, slightly panicked.

"Very well." The Kraang princess turned to Raph. "Which one of us do you choose to marry?"

Raph's jaw dropped, and he had no idea what to say. CJ sighed irritably and rephrased the question.

"Do you wanna get stuck in another dimension and marry a giant brain, or do you wanna stay here with your family and friends?"

Raph looked relieved. "I want to stay here," he replied.

Kralista looked disappointed, but nodded in acceptance. "Very well. If you do not wish to leave your home, then that is your choice." She hit a button, and a door appeared leading to where the others were located. "But please, if there is anything you need, anything at all, do not hesitate to ask."

Leo was the first out of the door, carrying Raph's Sai and T-Phone. "Actually, yeah, I do have a question. Why are you guys trying to invade our planet?"

"…_what_?" Kralista looked completely shocked. "My father told me that this was a small vacation spot… he promised that he would not invade this planet!"

"So you don't know why your kind is here? Or why they want our friend April?" Don gestured to the girl.

"I have not a clue!" Kralista looked extremely angry. "But I promise you, my new friends, that I will do all that I can to help you!"

"Could you…" Mikey looked down at his feet shyly. "Could you maybe get Leatherhead back here? He's a giant alligator."

"Consider it done," Kralista told him with determination. "And if I am able to discover anything, I will tell you immediately. In the meantime, feel free to return to your home. I have a phone call to make." The Kraang princess slithered back into her room, the entrance soon disappearing.

"Man, CJ, that was awesome!" Mikey gushed, "How'd you _do_ that?"

"Simple." Her voice was as expressionless as her face. "I don't let myself become a liability."

April flinched at her words. For some reason, she felt that these words were directed at her.

"Now let's go."

The six of them walked out of the Galligar building in silence. As April and the boys began blending into the shadows, CJ shot Leo a pointed look. Understanding this, he came back and carried her bridal style up to the rooftops. She maintained her cold expression for the whole ride, arms folded as the IV drip rested in her lap.

Leo finally set her down on a roof above the manhole that they were about to enter. She went over to the fire exit that was on the building. This would serve as her route to the ground. April was already there, moving the manhole. As CJ began descending the ladder that led to the stairs, Raph looked at the ground awkwardly.

"Uh, thanks for the help, CJ," he stammered.

"Yup."

"Hey, is something the matter?" Leo wanted to know.

"Noooooo," she glared at him sarcastically, "Nothing's wrong at _all_!"

Leo sighed. "Okay, what's the problem?"

CJ was silent for a few moments, before she erupted in fury.

"What's the problem? _What's the problem?_" she screeched, startling the brothers. "I'll_ tell_ you what the problem is! You are!"

The turtles exchanged confused, and slightly fearful, looks. They had never seen her so infuriated before. She moved back up the ladder, and addressed the brothers in the order that they stood, starting from the left.

"First of all, you, Leo!" she began, yelling right in his shocked face, "Master Splinter told you to show compassion to your brother! I told you to go talk to Raph and try to understand how _he_ feels about things! And what do you do?! You go and cruelly force him to sing the love song, which led him to almost getting _married to a Kraang princess_, stuck in _another dimension_, and never able to see _any_ of you _ever again!_ Not to mention you're too stubborn to understand or try anything that doesn't completely benefit _you_! You don't even _try_ to understand how your brothers feel! For cryin' out loud, Leo, you got after Raph for an _irrational fear_! Something _HE CAN'T EVEN CONTROL!_" She took in a deep breath. Her watch temporarily glitched out, causing her to momentarily return to her normal self. "You know, for someone who's supposed to be the leader, you sure do a terrible job at it."

Leo took a step backwards, mouth agape. Raph let out a cough, trying to hide his laughter.

"And you!" she spun on the second oldest, "I risk my entire mission to try to get Spike better for you, and I don't even get so much as a thank you! Sure, I understand that you're not one for the touchy-feely stuff, but a simple nod of acknowledgement would have been nice! Seriously, Raph, get over yourself! You're the tough guy! Act like one!"

Raph clenched his fist in anger. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"_Real_ tough guys shouldn't be afraid to show their emotions!"

Raph glared at her. "You know that's not how I roll."

"You're right. It's not. I apologize. That was uncalled for. I know that your brothers really don't understand you. But, nevertheless, a little gratitude would have still been appreciated. At least not almost punching me in the face would have been nice."

Leo looked at Raph, wide-eyed. Raph simply glared off into the distance, rage seething. Don had a look of nervousness in his eyes.

"Oh, you'd _better_ be nervous, Donatello," CJ spat, "Don't think Bee doesn't talk to me. You were supposed to help him locate his friends. _Not text on your phone with April for the entire time!_"

Don held up his hands in defense. "B-but he could have found them just as well without my help!"

"Well now we'll never know because you _didn't_ help! You could have still given him directions so that he wasn't going in circles for hours! Or running into dead-ends every five minutes!"

CJ looked at Mikey, who was positively trembling with fear. "And you, Mikey,"

"Y-y-yeah?"

"You didn't make me any soup before you left!"

Mikey stared at her. There was a twinkle of amusement in her eyes, and he let out a sigh of relief.

"Why does _Mikey_ get off easy?" Raph grumbled. CJ glared at the other three turtles.

"Because he's the only one who doesn't actually _mess up_."

The three older turtles exchanged looks of disbelief as she began descending the ladder, with Mikey close behind. April was completely stunned at what had just happened as the pair reached the floor. Mikey hopped in first, and soon, Leo, Don, and Raph came down. Leo followed Mikey, and Don helped April get into the sewers. Raph cast a glance over at CJ.

"And Raph?"

"What."

"…thanks for singing a song for me."

CJ hopped into the sewers, leaving a befuddled Raph behind. The hothead pondered what she had said, before finally snapping himself out of his train of thought and entered the sewer, replacing the manhole behind him.


	23. Chapter 22: Decision Time

No one spoke on the way to the lair. CJ was fuming to herself near the back, Raph behind her, deep in thought. Mikey was happy that CJ wasn't mad at him, but still said nothing to anyone. Leo was filled with regret over what had happened, and Don was feeling shameful over not helping Bumblebee with finding the other robots. April simply had nothing to say; nothing she could think of to lighten the mood, anyway.

When they finally reached the lair, Master Splinter was waiting for them. He first looked at the female turtle in surprise, but then recognized the IV drip, the watch, and the bandana, and understood who she was and what she had done. He then cast his glance at Raphael.

"Did you enjoy your freedom, Raphael?"

Raph didn't answer the question. "Thanks for lightening my punishment and letting me go out, Sensei."

A new wave of guilt washed over Leo. Of course Master Splinter wouldn't let Raph leave if he was still in trouble! Especially after the Baxter Stockman incident... Leo rushed off to his room, Don went over to the lab to apologize to Bumblebee, and Raph went to the kitchen and picked up Spike, before heading to his own bedroom. Mikey went for a piece of pizza in the kitchen, as CJ went and laid down on the couch, with April leaning against it. Master Splinter returned to the training room.

"So…" April began, unsure of what to say, "That was pretty intense…"

"Yeah, I lost it… I know. I'm just angry at myself and vented it out on them."

"Why?"

"Because I've already wasted so much time in my own dimension, and here," CJ took off her mask and her turtle disguise. "Especially with what happened last time…"

"What happened last time?"

"Not important. I just need to get ready to leave. Tomorrow morning we'll go."

April looked sad. "We'll miss you," she told her honestly, "One question, though, how did you find us?"

"Well, I looked up the Galligar building on my map, and slowly went from roof to roof to get there. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that my watch doesn't have a grappling hook, of all things, so I nearly fell to the ground one time, but managed to get back up."

"How'd you get to the window then?"

"There was a tall tree near the building, add in a couple of ledges on the building's surface above that, and I got to the window fairly easily. I got there when Leo was deciding, and knew when Kralista proposed that it was time for me to intervene."

"Oh." April sat there for a few moments, taking this in. "Well, I should probably get home. It's pretty late, and I have school tomorrow."

"Hey, did you get in trouble for being late, by the way?"

"No, thank goodness. I had a substitute first period. So everything worked out. Anyway, it was nice to meet you. Say bye to Bumblebee for me."

"Likewise, and I will. Bye, April."

"Bye, CJ."

April rushed off, and CJ pulled the blanket on top of her. After only a few seconds, the blanket went off and CJ went over to the garage.

"So, yeah, I'm really sorry, Bee. Next time I promise not to text while we look!"

"There isn't going to be a next time," CJ told him coolly, leaning in the doorway. Bee beeped. "Oh, and he forgives you."

"What do you mean, CJ? About the 'no next time' thing?"

"Not important. I need the IV drip out. Now."

Before Don could reply, they heard a moan. Bumblebee chirped excitedly.

"Arcee's waking up," CJ informed Donnie.

"Pain," she murmured.

Beep beep beep beep?!

"Yeah, I'm okay, Bee… what happened?"

"You passed out," Donnie explained.

"Oh… right… yeah I'm really sore."

"Get some rest, Arcee," CJ instructed. The autobot nodded, and within moments, was asleep again. Bee let out a sigh of relief.

"Anyway, I need this thing gone."

"Wait a minute, are you sure? We need to make sure that your fluids stay high and–"

"I. V. Drip. Out. Now," she growled.

Don gulped, but complied with her request. "You're as stubborn as April is," he chuckled nervously as he got to work.

CJ said nothing. Bee watched the two of them curiously. Don's fingers were shaking as he worked; most likely because he was still nervous because of her sudden outburst on the rooftop. He finished the job as quickly as he could, and CJ flexed her left arm.

"Thanks, Don," she nodded curtly, before going off to get some sleep.

"You're welcome," Don replied, following her out and heading over to his own room.

Mikey exited the kitchen, about to bite into a piece of pizza, before looking around with a blank look on his face.

"…where'd everybody go?"

It was around seven by the time everyone was awake, even Mikey and CJ. Splinter had been planning to do an early morning training session, but CJ said that she had an announcement that she wanted to make first.

"I would like to inform you that I am going to leave very shortly. I've stayed long enough."

Mikey gasped, but his brothers remained silent, still unsure of their stand with her.

"The dimensional rift of Bumblebee's dimension is under much stress, and so, to alleviate some of that stress, it is imperative for us to depart."

"What are you, Don?" Raph sneered.

CJ ignored this. "Thank you for your hospitality. I would also like to apologize for my anger from the previous night before. It was uncalled for, and you were not the original sources of such anger. I just took it out on you, and that was wrong."

"CJ, before you go," Mikey looked at her, "Why are you so serious all of a sudden?"

She didn't even crack a smile. "I'm always serious when it comes to dimensional disturbances." She turned towards the garage. "Bumblebee, we're leaving now." Bumblebee beeped, turning into a vehicle and maneuvering out of the garage and into the main room of the lair, stopping behind where CJ stood.

CJ activated a portal, and everyone gasped as the purple vortex appeared.

"Are you sure you have to go?" Mikey pleaded.

"Yes."

Mikey let out a sigh of defeat as CJ continued on. "Well, in any case, it was fun meeting you all. Goodbye, everyone. We'll be back for Arcee and Knock-Out once we find the others."

The four turtles were silent as Bee drove into the portal and CJ looked back at them for a second, before placing a foot on the purple vortex.

"Wait," Leo spoke up. "I'm coming with you."


	24. Chapter 23: Into the Portal

"No way. I won't allow that," CJ shook her head firmly. "I cannot permit such actions. You don't understand the dangers of interdimensional transport."

"Yeah, but you've already had a migraine! Who knows what else could happen to you?" Leo argued.

"Do you realize what will happen to you if you don't make it back?!" CJ whipped her right arm to the side. "Your whole dimension will cease to exist! I've prided myself on never losing a dimension and I'm not about to start now!"

"Oh, so this is some kind of record thing for you then," Raph smirked, "You don't _actually_ care about Bumblebee. You just want to see how long you can go without messing up."

"That's not it at all!"

"Sure, sure…"

Leo gave her a determined look. "I'll make it back just fine."

"Now hold on just one second here!" CJ and Leo both turned to look at Raph, who seemed extremely angry.

"There's no way you're going."

"Raph, I'm going, and that's–"

Raph donned a smirk that said 'let's do this'. "Without me!"

"And since the dimension would slow down anyway, we'll be back quicker for Arcee!" Donnie added, "You can count me in too!"

"Don't forget about me!" Mikey chipped in with a huge smile, "We just met, after all! I can't let you go now!"

CJ desperately looked at Master Splinter. "Can't you do something about this?" she pleaded.

Master Splinter looked thoughtful. "Well, it would be a good chance for them to train in unfamiliar situations… I approve of this decision."

The turtles looked up at her with pleading eyes. CJ finally let out a sigh of defeat, and weakly smiled for the first time in a long while.

"…fine. You guys can tag along. I'd like to spend more time with you four anyway, to be honest."

The brothers cheered, pumping the air with their fists and chattering excitedly.

"But if something happens, don't say I didn't warn you," she told them, becoming serious once more. CJ began to walk into the portal. "Well, what are you guys waiting for? Bee's probably waiting for us! Let's go!"

The turtles rushed after her into the portal.

"Goodbye!" Splinter called to the five of them.

"Bye, Master Splinter!" they called back. And with that, the portal disappeared.

Splinter stood in the silent lair for a few moments, before rushing over to the TV remote.

"Finally," he murmured, "No more Space Heroes! I can catch up on my shows!"

END OF PART 1

* * *

The next part is a character interlude and a mission update.


	25. Part One Interlude: Mission Update

Interlude: Mission Update

The Mission: To locate all of the warped characters from Transformers Prime and return them to their dimension as quickly as possible.

Status of Mission: Incomplete

Number of robots located: 3/6

Number of robots left to find: 3/6

Dimensions:

DimensionHOME: Completed.

Dimension0001: Incompleted.

Characters encountered:

CJ

Mission Leader

Key Information:

Series/Dimension: Original Dimension

Gender: Female

Age: Teenager

About: Dimension Hopper who seems to know more than she lets on. Also seems to be holding onto something from the past. Uses a watch to dimension hop, though there appears to be something wrong with it. Little is known about her. Yet.

Personality: All-around personality. Can be whatever she needs to be.

Position/Occupation: Dimension Hopper

Appearance: Light brown hair, multi-coloured eyes, short height. Wears purple glasses, brown shoes, black hoodie, red t-shirt, and beige pants.

Bumblebee

Reason for the Mission (as in, came to CJ for help, not caused the mission)

Key Information:

Series/Dimension: Transformers Prime

Gender: Male

Age: Unknown (not much older than a teenager in Transformer years)

About: A giant robot, who smacked into CJ's tree. Can only speak in electronic beeps. CJ seems to understand him, as do the other robots. Cares for CJ and doesn't want anything to happen to her.

Personality: Spunky, innocent, quick.

Position/Occupation: Scout for the Autobots, guardian of Raf.

Appearance:

Optimus Prime

Rescuee

Key Information:

Series/Dimension: Transformers Prime

Gender: Male

Age: Unknown (about middle age in Transformer years, a little younger, maybe)

About: A giant robot who is currently lost in an unknown dimension.

Personality: Serious, understanding, compassionate, reasonable, modest.

Position/Occupation: Leader of the Autobots.

Appearance:

Arcee

Rescuee

Key Information:

Series/Dimension: Transformers Prime

Gender: Female

Age: Unknown (about middle age in Transformer years, a little younger, maybe)

About: A giant robot who was found by Raphael in the TMNT 2012 universe He brought her back to the lair soon after he found her. She mistook him for Jack.

Personality: Serious, cautious, determined, courageous.

Position/Occupation: Reconnaissance of the Autobots, guardian of Jack.

Appearance: /wiki/File:Arcee_Prime_

Bulkhead

Rescuee

Key Information:

Series/Dimension: Transformers Prime

Gender: Male

Age: Unknown (about middle age in Transformer years, a little younger, maybe)

About: A giant robot who is currently lost in an unknown dimension.

Personality: Careful, bulky, strong, smug.

Position/Occupation: Warrior/Strong Man of the Autobots, guardian of Miko.

Appearance:

Ratchet

Side Character

Key Information:

Series/Dimension: Transformers Prime

Gender: Male

Age: Unknown (an old geezer in Transformer years)

About: A giant robot who is currently located in his home dimension.

Personality: Irritated, smart, loyal, angry.

Position/Occupation: Medic of the Autobots.

Appearance:

Jack

Side Character

Key Information:

Series/Dimension: Transformers Prime

Gender: Male

Age: 16

About: A teenager who discovered the Autobots and became their friend.

Personality: Cautious, responsible, intelligent.

Position/Occupation: Human companion of Arcee.

Appearance: /wiki/File:JackDarby_

Miko

Side Character

Key Information:

Series/Dimension: Transformers Prime

Gender: Female

Age: 15

About: A teenager who discovered the Autobots and became their friend.

Personality: Reckless, fun-loving, relaxed.

Position/Occupation: Human companion of Bulkhead.

Appearance: /wiki/File:MikoNakadai_

Raf

Side Character

Key Information:

Series/Dimension: Transformers Prime

Gender: Male

Age: 12

About: A youth who discovered the Autobots and became their friend.

Personality: Intelligent, shy, quiet.

Position/Occupation: Human companion of Bumblebee.

Appearance: /wiki/File:Raf_

Starscream

Rescuee

Key Information:

Series/Dimension: Transformers Prime

Gender: Male

Age: Unknown (about middle age in Transformer years, a little younger, maybe)

About: A giant robot who is currently lost in an unknown dimension.

Personality: Egotistical, smug, tricky, lying, stubborn, cowardly.

Position/Occupation: Second-in-command of the Decepticons

Appearance:

Knock-Out

Rescuee

Key Information:

Series/Dimension: Transformers Prime

Gender: Male

Age: Unknown (about middle age in Transformer years, a little younger, maybe)

About: A giant robot who is currently lost in an unknown dimension.

Personality: Narcissistic, cowardly, haughty.

Position/Occupation: Second-in-command of the Decepticons

Appearance:

Leonardo

Travelling Companion

Key Information:

Series/Dimension: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)

Gender: Male

Age: 15

About: A mutant turtle who decides to join CJ on her quest to find Bumblebee's friends.

Personality: Serious, focused, mature.

Position/Occupation: Leader of TMNT

Appearance: . /_

Raphael

Travelling Companion

Key Information:

Series/Dimension: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)

Gender: Male

Age: 15

About: A mutant turtle who decides to join CJ on her quest to find Bumblebee's friends.

Personality: Serious, hotheaded, reckless, sarcastic.

Position/Occupation: Muscle of TMNT

Appearance: . /_cb20120617062312/tmnt/images/e/ee/2012_

Donatello

Travelling Companion

Key Information:

Series/Dimension: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)

Gender: Male

Age: 15

About: A mutant turtle who decides to join CJ on her quest to find Bumblebee's friends.

Personality: Protective, intelligent, high strung.

Position/Occupation: Brains of TMNT

Appearance: . /_cb20120630184046/tmnt/images/4/4c/2012_Donatello _titled_character_

Michelangelo

Travelling Companion

Key Information:

Series/Dimension: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)

Gender: Male

Age: 15

About: A mutant turtle who decides to join CJ on her quest to find Bumblebee's friends.

Personality: Relaxed, creative, scatterbrained, impulsive.

Position/Occupation: Wild Card of TMNT

Appearance: . /_cb20120630184215/tmnt/images/1/1c/2012_Michelang elo_titled_character_

April

Side Character

Key Information:

Series/Dimension: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)

Gender: Female

Age: 16

About: A teenager who becomes quick friends with CJ and Bumblebee.

Personality: Feisty, resourceful, loyal, shy.

Position/Occupation: Friend/Rookie/Kunoichi of TMNT

Appearance: . /_

Master Splinter

Side Character

Key Information:

Series/Dimension: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)

Gender: Male

Age: Unknown (Adult)

About: A mutant rat who is curious of CJ, and lets his sons go with her on her adventure.

Personality: Stern, protective, quirky.

Position/Occupation: Teacher of TMNT

Appearance: . /_cb20121210214535/tmnt/images/c/c5/Master_

Spike

Side Character

Key Information:

Series/Dimension: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)

Gender: Male

Age: Unknown

About: Raph's unmutated pet turtle who took a liking to CJ.

Personality: Calm.

Position/Occupation: Mascot of TMNT, Raph's consultant.

Appearance: . /_

CJ's Mission Log

_Entry 1:_

_ Bumblebee and I have managed to locate Knock-Out and Arcee fairly quickly. Only Optimus, Bulkhead, and Starscream remain. At the rate the mission is going, we should be able to retrieve them within a week or so. I can only hope that they aren't in any danger… or that Starscream hasn't done anything stupid… he has a knack for that sort of thing, unfortunately…_

_ Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo have joined us on our journey. I must be vigilante and not allow any harm to come to them. We've already got one dimension in trouble. We don't need two. I also hope they don't slow us down… but hopefully they'll be useful as we enter the next dimension. In my weakened state, I need all the help I can get._

_ On a side note… the watch seems to be acting up… I can only hope that it doesn't fritz out on me. I haven't done a system check in a long time._

_ Oh, and note to self… install a grappling hook._

END TRANSMISSION


	26. Chapter 24: Quite a ride

BEGIN PART 2

Donatello was mesmerized by the light purple hues that spun around him. The dimensional portal was so amazing and unbelievable… he just couldn't stop staring at it as the colours flashed by. Looking back, he saw that the pathway back home was gone. There were only purple swirls. They didn't seem to be moving anywhere, as if the five of them were in a giant purple sphere. CJ led the way, keeping an eye on them as they looked around in amazement, and he was in the far back. A certain spot caught his eye, as a purple wave headed slowly in his direction, darker than the rest of the portal, and even his mask. He stopped, watching it as it slithered towards him.

"LOOK OUT!"

CJ tackled into his stomach, causing him to fall backwards onto his shell, with her landing on top of him. The wave that he thought was small, innocent and slow cracked over their heads at the speed of light, zooming through the place where he had just been standing. It was as thick two Splinters. Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo, who had been following her in that order, gawked back at her. CJ got off of Donnie and helped him to his feet.

"What _was_ that?!" Raph demanded.

"_That_," CJ brushed herself off, glaring in the direction that it had gone, "was a dimensional bolt. If you see one heading for you, _move_. Those things are extremely dangerous, and vary in size. They look slow, but they move _fast_. They're just very, very far away."

"Sorry, CJ," Donnie gulped guiltily.

"It's alright, Don, I should have warned you about them beforehand. Anyway, we're almost there. So it doesn't matter now. Past is past."

The turtles said nothing as she walked past them, taking the lead once more. Soon, the vortex opened up, revealing Bumblebee waiting for them in a vast desert. He beeped in surprise when they exited the portal.

"Yeah, they asked to tag along," CJ explained, gesturing at the brothers as they looked around. Mikey, however, was looking down at his hands.

"Dude… I feel… strong!" he murmured.

"That's an added bonus of the portals I use," CJ told him, as the other turtles felt the same way, "It scientifically strengthens you and gives you more energy, endurance, and power, to protect you. The levels return to normal when you get home. It's a safety precaution for myself… and for those I bring with me."

"Cool," Mikey grinned, flexing his arm.

"Alright. Everyone hop into Bumblebee, and we'll drive up to that city over there to find out where we are."

"Shotgun!" Mikey called, running towards the open doors.

The city she spoke of was very futuristic, and incredibly massive, full of buildings and flying cars. Donatello ogled the city, staring at the amazing technology that he saw.

"C'mon, nerd-boy, quit drooling and get in."

Don wiped his mouth before climbing into the back with Leo and Raph. He ended up sitting in the middle, with Raph staring at the sky on his left and Leo staring at the window on his right. CJ sat in the driver's seat, as Mikey eagerly looked around from the passenger side.

"You're sure that no one can see us?" Leo fretted, staring at the windows.

Beep beep!

"Bumblebee says yes. He also says don't question his design and to stop tapping the windows. It's irritating."

"Sorry."

Beep.

"He says it's fine."

The five of them sat in silence as Bumblebee made his way to the city.

"I just got a massive energy flux on the reader in the desert… it's like a wormhole or something."

"Weird… what are the energy readings?"

"Off the charts. This flux is like nothing I've ever seen before."

"Should I tell the others?"

"Yeah. I'll get them to check this out. This is really suspicious."

As the six of them made their way into the city, Mikey turned eagerly to CJ. "So where do you think we are?"

"Oh, I have a few pretty good ideas…" CJ murmured. Mikey looked at her expectantly, but she remained silent.

"Um… what are those ideas?" Mikey asked awkwardly, in an attempt to resume the conversation.

"I don't want to say until I'm 100% sure. I don't like false ideas getting around. I want to be certain about where we are. I have been wrong before."

"Oh…" Mikey fell silent and went back to staring out the window.

"Sheesh, it's like a Space Heroes freakshow in this city," Raph rolled his eyes as they turned down a street and slowed down to match the speed limit. Strange creatures of all sizes walked down the sidewalks alongside humans. No one seemed panicked in the slightest.

"I know," Leo sighed, "Isn't it great?"

"I wonder if it would be safe to go out in public," Don murmured, "I mean, everyone's in costume here. We'd blend right in."

"Probably not," Mikey pouted, staring wistfully at the humans and creatures socializing, and wishing, not for the first time, that he was human. Or at least a pretty fake looking mutant turtle. "We look too real."

"Bumblebee, back up here into this alley," CJ instructed suddenly. Bumblebee complied with a single beep, and carefully backed into the alley that CJ had pointed out.

No one cast the vehicle a second glance as CJ got out. The turtles exchanged confused looks but cautiously followed her, sticking to the shadows and leaving Bumblebee's two doors open in case they needed to hop back inside quickly. CJ climbed onto the roof of a newspaper truck trailer, which was currently parked outside of a store, and began looking around.

"CJ!" Leo hissed as loudly as he dared, "What are you doing?!"

"Confirming our location," she replied, not bothering to be quiet or to even look at them. She turned so that she was facing the opposite direction of the truck. "Ah… there it is…" she murmured to herself. "Alright guys, I know where we are. You're going to love this. The dimension that we're in is the –" She was abruptly cut off by the truck jerking forwards. She tumbled backwards onto the roof and turned to face the same direction as the truck. She quickly braced herself against the roof of its trailer as it began to pick up speed.

"CJ!" All of the turtles dove into Bumblebee, with Don getting shotgun, Leo in the drivers' seat, and Mikey and Raph in the back. Leo put his hands on the steering wheel, but Bumblebee let out an indignant beep, forcing him to release it. The Autobot huffed and sped out of the alleyway, chasing after the truck.

CJ gritted her teeth, keeping her mouth shut as bugs splattered against her face. The truck was heading in the same direction that she had been facing previously, so at least she was going the right way.

The truck had hit a highway above the main part of the city. Bumblebee sped up to try to keep up to them, though it was difficult on the crowded road.

"Oh man, this is so not good, dudes!" Mikey fretted, staring out of the window.

"You have to try and pull next to the truck, Bumblebee." Don exclaimed, "Then she can jump onto your roof!"

Bumblebee beeped in what they assumed was agreement, and went even faster in order to drive alongside the truck.

Don rolled down his window when they were on the truck's left side.

"CJ!" he screamed, "You have to jump! It's the only way for you to get back over here!"

"I… I'll try!" she yelled back. Don rolled up the window as they suddenly went under a holographic sign, and a voice rang out.

"Gravity level three. Terran air content: sulfurous."

Don and Leo exchanged shrugs as a thunk came from outside. They were even more confused when CJ hit the roof of the truck, hard.

"So… heavy…" she groaned, gripping the edge of the truck's trailer's roof. Despite the sudden change in gravity, she managed to slowly, painstakingly get onto one knee, and eventually she was standing up, face to the wind.

"Okay, she's gonna jump now," Don murmured to himself.

"Bumblebee, get closer," Leo ordered. Bumblebee complied with his request and went closer to the truck. They were almost touching.

CJ looked down and saw Bumblebee racing alongside the truck. She let out a sigh of relief, and prepared herself to leap.

None of them saw the turn coming.

Right before she could make the move, they rounded a sharp corner. The truck turned fine. CJ didn't. Instead of staying with the truck, she lost her footing and flew off of the highway.

"CJ!"

Beep!

They quickly pulled to a stop next to the corner where she had been flung off. They stared out the windows and looked around desperately.

"There!" Raph pointed downwards. They could just see the tiny speck that was her body falling faster and faster.

"I can't look!" Mikey shielded his eyes.

Around this time, a small, sleek, dark purple and grey jet was passing underneath the highway. CJ ended up ricocheting off of it, hard, causing it to spiral out of control and an interesting game of pinball to commence. CJ bounced from building to jet to sign until they lost sight of her. The jet flew off into the distance and crashed into an abandoned building. The four turtles exchanged shocked looks, and Bumblebee sped off in an attempt to catch up to the dimension traveller.

"I hope she's okay," Leo murmured, "That was quite a fall."

"We have to find her!" Mikey replied desperately.

"We're going to find her," Raph nodded determinedly, "She couldn't have landed too far from us. We just have to get down there."

Bumblebee let out a beep and began to make his way down to the ground.

_Well _this_ is a great way to start a new dimension…_

Those words were going through CJ's mind as she bounced around the city, tumbling through the air. As she fell, she felt something hit her watched wrist, hard, and felt something change.

_Oh boy… what happened now?_ Before she had a chance to register anything, however, she knocked her head against a sign and tumbled into a river, sinking like a stone.

She drifted in and out of consciousness with the current. It ended up washing her into an abandoned sewer pipe, and she slowly crawled forwards, feeling herself blacking out.

CJ entered a strange looking room after crawling for a few minutes. Four figures were there, but she could not make any of them out.

"…P-please…" she whispered, "Help me…"

And everything went dark.


	27. Chapter 25: Dimension Revealed

Right before CJ fell, the four previously mentioned characters had been chatting with each other, discussing and arguing about their plans.

"No, no, no! It's MY turn to pick a plan!" The first one whined.

"Don't you know dat fearless leader always makes da plans?" The second one growled, smacking the first upside the head. "We don't get no say!"

"Ow…" The first held its head.

"Well then. What _is_ the plan?" A third spoke up, turning to look at a fourth, who was staring at a computer screen, back to the others.

The fourth character let out a sigh and turned around. He was a completely blue, buff mutant turtle, with a sheathed sword slung over his right shoulder. His left eye was covered by a metallic patch with two red, horizontal stripes on it. His left shoulder had two spikes on it, and he wore dark blue wristbands. His legs were also dark blue, and looked like pants. He had three fingers, two toes, a giant, dark blue shell with small spikes on top, a pentagonal head, and slightly greenish-blue spots on his right arm.

"I'm not sure yet, Dark Don," the leader let out another sigh, looking at the third one. The figure he looked at was completely purple, taller than the others, with a long, dark blue tail. He had dark blue leggings and arm bracers, and three claws instead of fingers on each hand. His toes were also claws. His wrists sported large, silver, spiked braces with tiny red lights on them. His head was more oval shaped, with dark blue spikes on top, and he had silver plates on his cheeks. His dark blue shell had spikes going all around from the edge.

"Dark Leo's going soft on us!" the first figure cackled. He was completely yellow, the only one with pupils, and had a long, pink tongue. His right leg sported a dark blue casing, like Dark Don's, but his left leg only had two dark stripes on the thigh. He had regular fingers, and clawed toes. He had an orange band across his chest, and around his left shoulder and left ankle, and two spiked, orange tassels coming from his back. He had a pentagonal head, like Dark Leo, a shell like Dark Don, and wielded two silver clubs with two blades on the end of each.

"I am not, Dark Mikey," Dark Leo argued.

"Yeah you is!" the second figure laughed. He was the shortest and biggest of all the turtles. He was completely red, with a pentagonal head and spikes on his face and dark blue shell. His right arm was completely covered by a blue casing, as was his right leg. His left arm was completely bare, revealing darker red, spiky markings. The same markings were on his left thigh, before getting covered by the brace on his knee. He had two regular toes, and two normal fingers, but his thumbs were sharp talons.

"It's 'Yes, you are', Dark Raph," Dark Don groaned at the red turtle's grammar.

"Whatever," Dark Raph rolled his eyes.

"Ever since you stayed with the 'good boys' you don't wanna have any fun anymore!" Dark Mikey whined from his place on the floor, looking at Dark Leo from an upside-down point of view.

"That's not true," Dark Leo retorted, "I just need to come up with a good plan. They're harder to think of than you realize. But considering your brain size, I'm not surprised by your impatience."

"Hurtful!" Dark Mikey feigned indignation, before tackling Dark Raph and the two of them began wrestling on the floor.

"Darius Dun will be furious if we don't come up with something soon," Dark Don warned the leader.

"You know," Dark Leo muttered, "I really hate that guy."

"We all does, fearless," Dark Raph grunted from his wrestling match.

"…do you hear something?" Dark Don cocked his head. The four Dark turtles looked towards the entrance of Darius' lair.

"…P-please… help me…"

They stared at the figure that lay unconscious on their doorstep. It was a small looking turtle. Cautiously, the four of them approached, wary that it was one of their enemies. But…

"Dude!" Dark Mikey gawked. "It's… It's a girl!"

Dark Leo stiffened. "I didn't know that there were female turtles…"

Dark Don used his tail to gently lift up her face. "She appears to have had quite a rough time. See that mark on her head? I think she might have fallen into the river and whacked it against something."

"What does we do?" Dark Raph looked at her awkwardly.

Dark Leo began to think. His brothers could see the gears turning in his head as he formulated a plan. "We take her back to our lair at the warehouse. I have an idea."

"What about Darius?" Dark Mikey questioned.

"He's not important. Just make sure that he doesn't find out about her." Dark Leo picked her up and turned to Dark Don. "Make her an enviro pack and a gravitron regulator. She needs to breathe and move normally."

Dark Don nodded uncertainly, and went to get to work, as Dark Raph and Dark Mikey exchanged glances.

"Well, this is new…" Dark Mikey exclaimed.

"Yeah… wonder what happened to her," Dark Raph murmured as Dark Leo brought her over to Dark Don's temporary work table.

Dark Mikey shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to wait until she wakes up."

* * *

"We're almost at the spot where she went out of view, according to my calculations."

"Good. With any luck, she'll be okay and will have landed in a dumpster or something."

"That would be kind of funny, actually."

"That's mean, Raph!"

"Calm down, Mikey. We're almost there."

Beep. Beep beep!

The five of them pulled into an alley, and Leo turned to face his brothers.

"Alright. Well since we don't know if it's safe to be seen, Raph, you and Don will go through the alleyways and try to find her. She might have hid down in the sewers as well, so check there after you've looked around this area. Mikey and I will stay with Bumblebee and drive around, looking for any sign of her, in case she went off course after we lost sight of her. Everyone clear on the plan?"

The three of them nodded, and Don and Raph slipped out of the car and silently vanished into the maze of alleys. Bumblebee began heading in the opposite direction as Leo and Mikey stared out of the windows, scanning for any sign of the dimensional traveller.

No one noticed the four hefty creatures leaping across the rooftops, with a female turtle in the hands of the blue one.

* * *

The Dark Turtles had made their way over to their warehouse base sooner than expected, mostly because Dark Don needed some materials from his lab in their true home in order to finish the devices.

"Alright, here we go: one enviro pack and one gravitron regulator." The two devices were crude and black, but they seemed efficient enough to function properly.

"Do you think she'll need a wrist translator?" Dark Leo questioned.

"Not right now. It requires too many parts that I don't have. She'll be fine." Dark Don proceeded to put the devices onto her, before laying her on their couch. "I don't think she's going anywhere. Plus she speaks English. So she'll be able to understand us fine."

"Well that's good. As long as she can understand us then the plan will work just per– Dark Mikey quit sniffing her!" Dark Leo facepalmed as his younger brother looked up in embarrassment.

"I'm just seeing if she has any food…" he called back innocently.

"You're a complete and utter idiot," Dark Don rolled his eyes.

"I betcha she's friends with them turtles," Dark Raph growled, "I says we shakes her down when she wakes up and gets some answers! And if she don't wanna talk… bash her head in!"

"She is not to be harmed," Dark Leo ordered fiercely, "Do you understand me? If anyone so much as even looks at her the wrong way, I'll personally beat you into next month. Got it?"

The three other turtles exchanged nervous glances and nodded. Dark Mikey then donned a mischievous look.

"Sounds like Fearless Leader's got a little crush!" he crowed. Dark Leo smacked his head.

"I don't care about her. She's just important to the plan. After the plan, we'll just leave her in an alley or something."

Dark Raph cocked an eyebrow. "Finally gots your bad back?"

"You could say that, yes."

"So you admit that you lost it," Dark Don smirked.

"I admit that I was a bit confused. But now everything's normal. So shut it."

Dark Mikey lets out a content sigh. "So good to have Fearless Leader back to normal."

"Tell me about it," Dark Don nodded in approval.

A sudden groan caught their attention. Dark Raph went over to the couch cautiously and stared down at the female turtle's face. She slowly blinked awake, staring calmly into Dark Raph's blank eyes.

"Oh… hello…" she murmured weakly.

Dark Raph tilted his head in confusion. "You ain't scared of me?"

"Not really," she replied tiredly, "Though yours isn't a face you usually see when you first wake up."

Dark Raph stiffened. "You callin' me ugly?" he growled.

"Oh, no! I meant… where I come from, everyone's human."

"Where _are_ you from?" Dark Don questioned, coming into view.

"Another dimension," she explained. All four turtles were stunned.

"Then how'd you get here?" Dark Mikey asked, confused.

"I…" She put a finger to her face. "I don't… really… remember…"

"Do you know who you are?" Dark Don approached her, nudging Dark Raph aside.

"Oh, of course! My name is CJ!" She smiled up at them. "I remember things up to a few weeks ago… but after that… it's all a blur."

"Fascinating…"

"You guys seem a little familiar…" CJ noted, wracking her brain for how she knew them.

"Oh, of course we do!" Dark Leo suddenly appeared next to Dark Don and Dark Raph, both of whom jumped at Dark Leo's sudden arrival.

"Don't do dat," Dark Raph growled.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you see, you've been with us for the past few weeks," Dark Leo explained, beginning the lie, "Helping us out and whatnot. Even if you don't remember it, you knew us before. We're very close friends."

"Oh… okay… that sounds… kind of familiar, yeah. But… I don't remember your names."

"I'm Leonardo," Dark Leo explained. "But call me Leo. This is Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo. Or Don, Raph, and Mikey. Whichever you prefer."

"What are you doing, Fearless?" Dark Don hissed.

"Initiating the plan; albeit a little differently than I was expecting," Dark Leo whispered back.

CJ contemplated what he had said. "Oh, right! You guys are the turtles!"

"The ORIGINAL turtles," Dark Leo added.

"Of course!"

"So… wait…" Dark Mikey pulled Dark Leo back a bit as Dark Don began examining her head. "She thinks that we're the goody-two-shoes turtles now?"

"Exactly."

"But… does that mean we have to be good now?!"

"Of course not! But since she believes that we're the good turtles, it'll be easier for her to comply with the plan."

"You'd think that if she'd known about the turtles she'd know we aren't the original ones."

"We'd know if that's what she thought because she would have said something."

"I guess…" Dark Mikey still looked a bit skeptical, but said nothing more. They returned to the couch, where Dark Don was explaining how she had gone missing and then washed into their other lair.

CJ smiled up at them. "Well, thank you for helping me, guys!"

"Quick question," Dark Mikey piped up. "How are you a turtle?"

"I… I'm not sure…" CJ admitted, "I guess… I guess I was always a turtle? I can't remember. I don't _think_ I'm supposed to be a turtle… I think I'm supposed to be a human… but everything's so fuzzy. The closest thing I can remember is a giant yellow robot."

The Dark Turtles exchanged looks of alarm. If a giant robot found out that they were keeping her hostage… that would not end well, to say the least.

"Well, you should get your rest, CJ," Dark Leo ordered, "Maybe you'll remember more after some sleep." _Though I kind of hope not…_ he added silently.

"Da… Leo?" Dark Raph caught himself, almost adding 'Dark' to his leader's name. "Da boss is coming."

"Get on the couch," Dark Leo ordered. CJ stood up on their extremely large couch and watched as Dark Leo picked her up. The others obeyed, with Dark Raph taking the far right, Dark Mikey in the middle, and Dark Don taking the left, closet to the wall, leaning against the arm rest and looking bored.

Dark Leo strolled behind the couch and nudged Dark Raph forwards a little bit, slipping CJ between his shell and the couch cushion so that she was completely obscured from view.

The 'boss' strolled into the room. He was an extremely large man and wore a large suit of armour. He said nothing, but glared at the turtles with pure hatred, and tossed a single piece of steak at them, before storming off, muttering about 'incompetent buffoons'. It took all of their self-control to keep CJ hidden and not go tackling the piece of meat.

"Who was that?" CJ asked, poking her head around Dark Raph's shell.

Dark Leo sighed. "Darius Dun. We're forced to work for him."

"Why don't you just quit?" she blinked.

"We don't really have much of a choice," Dark Don laughed humourlessly, "We can't really leave. And where would we go? We'd be in prison faster than you can blink."

Dark Leo gritted his teeth at dark Don's words, but CJ didn't seem to notice, nodding thoughtfully and resting her chin on Dark Raph's shell. Dark Mikey looked like he wanted to say something, but, at that moment, his stomach growled. He looked awkwardly at the others.

"We haven't eaten for a few days…" he admitted sadly. CJ slid out from behind Dark Raph and rested a hand on his arm with sympathy.

"Oh, you poor things… Here. I'll get you something to eat. Unfortunately, it appears that I'm broke. Do you have any money?"

Dark Leo bit his lip until he saw Darius' cash card lying on the floor. "That's it there."

Nodding, CJ picked it up. "What would you like?"

"Meat!" the four brothers roared eagerly. CJ chuckled.

"Alright then!" she replied, "I'll get as much as I can!" She dug into her shell for a disguise, and ended up finding a black hoodie and some beige pants. "These will work perfectly!" she grinned. She put them on to disguise herself as Dark Don looked up the coordinates for the closest meat place. With a wave, she left the building, and headed to the nearest meat store that he had found.

* * *

"Hey, Donnie!"

"What is it, Cody?" The purple-clad turtle turned towards him from his spot in front of their time window.

"I picked up Darius' cash card on the tracker. Apparently he bought something at… a butcher's shop?"

"That seems strange… can you hack into the security footage?"

The boy nodded. "It should only take a second." Cody hit a few buttons on the computer. Seconds later, an image popped up on the screen. The two geniuses stared at it. The store was empty at the moment; a robot manned the cash register. a figure walked into the room. It was impossible to tell who it was.

"Well, that's definitely not Darius," Cody chuckled. The figure was much too small. A voice resonated from the video; it was strange, as if the person was trying to disguise it.

"I need as much meat as you can sell a person," they said. The robot nodded, and soon two large sacks were pushed over the counter. The figure turned so that its hands were not visible to the camera. They paid, took the bags, and left.

"That was odd," Don mused, "How'd that person get Darius' cash card?"

"And why'd they need so much meat?" Cody added.

The brainiacs pondered over the video, discussing what they knew and replaying it multiple times. They were so busy with trying to figure it out that they almost didn't notice that they were no longer alone.

"Hey, Leo," Don greeted, barely taking his eyes off the screen, "Find anything?"

The blue-masked turtle shook his head, but since Don hadn't been looking he voiced their findings. "Nothing. We went to the spot where the energy flux had occurred, but there wasn't anything there. We even flew over the surrounding area but there was nothing out of the ordinary.

"It's alright, Leo," Don finally faced his brother, "It could have been nothing."

Leo looked skeptical, but kept quiet. Don didn't seem to be too concerned about it, so he wouldn't let it bother him either. But he couldn't stop the nagging doubt that something, or someone, had resulted because of that energy flux.


	28. Chapter 26: Beginning the Confusion

"You's amazing!" Dark Raph gawked at the spread in front of him and his brothers. The meat that Darius had thrown to them was long gone.

"No problem! Do you have anywhere to cook it?" CJ asked, removing her disguise.

"We usually eat it raw," Dark Don explained as CJ removed the food from the bags and laid it out on a rusty, metal table. "The hunger pains typically outweigh the salmonella pains."

"That won't do at all!" CJ shook her head resolutely. "Don't you have an oven?"

"Nope!" Dark Mikey told her, drooling at the spread.

"Don has a welding torch," Dark Leo shrugged.

"That'll work." Dark Don fetched the torch. CJ put on a welding mask that Dark Don had found, lit the torch, and began to cook the meat. The boys salivated greatly at the tantalizing odour. After a few minutes, CJ turned the torch off and removed the mask.

"Much faster than an oven!" she grinned as she began to divide everything up evenly.

"I have to admit, it does smell better cooked," Dark Leo struggled to keep his composure.

"Dig in!"

The brothers pounced onto the table and devoured the meat the moment the words left her mouth. CJ grinned and ducked as bones and bits of meat flew all over the place. Within minutes, everything was gone.

"Dat was so awesome…" Dark Raph sighed with contentment, letting out a hearty belch.

"Epic," Dark Mikey agreed as he licked a bone clean.

"Glad you liked it," CJ nodded with a smile.

Dark Leo and Dark Don exchanged suspicious looks but said nothing. As CJ began cleaning the table up and throwing the bones and packaging into the trash, curiosity got the better of him and Dark Leo spoke up.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why would you show us such compassion without knowing us? Or rather… remembering us?"

"Because you needed help," CJ replied simply, "And I wanted to help."

The blue turtle fell silent, but CJ continued on. "You've obviously had it rough, and I figured you needed a break. But I should probably go. I need to find out how I got here."

The Dark Turtles exchanged looks before their leader spoke once more. "Would you… like to stay with us for a few days?" he asked awkwardly. CJ turned and looked at him happily.

"Why thank you, Leo! That's very kind of you! Of course I'll stay!"

Dark Mikey grinned and immediately decided to show her around. Dark Don and Dark Raph turned to their leader.

"What are you doing, Fearless Leader?" the purple turtle growled.

"Dun said he wanted us to get to the turtles. What's a better way than with another turtle?" Dark Leo smirked.

"So _that's_ your plan," Dark Don nodded in satisfaction, but Dark Raph seemed a bit troubled.

"But… she's so nice to us! She's gettin' us food!"

"She probably just wants something from us," Dark Don dismissed, "And I thought you were the one who wanted to, quote unquote, 'Bash her head in'?"

"Well sure… I hads my doubts, but I think she's alright. She gots us food."

"You thinking… there's a new one." Dark Don snorted, "And so you're saying Dun is 'alright'?"

"Well… no… but… ARGH! Quit confusin' me, brainiac!" He stomped his foot.

Dark Don snickered as he and Dark Leo began discussing their plans. Dark Raph ignored the genius and went and joined Dark Mikey and CJ on the couch. Dark Mikey was flicking through the channels. They suddenly hit a music channel playing older hit songs from 100 years ago. CJ jumped off of the couch in excitement.

"Oh man, I love this song!" she grinned. She began to dance, imitating the moves of the dancers on screen. The two brothers exchanged looks of surprise. The female was shockingly graceful, even for having a shell. Dark Mikey stood up and, wanting to join in, attempted to copy her movements.

"Come on, Raph!" CJ encouraged him.

Dark Raph looked away awkwardly. "I'm not too graceful… not good with them fancy feetworks cuz I'm so big."

"That's okay! You have to adapt to the situation! Make it yours!" She spun in a circle. "That's the thing about dancing… everyone has their own style. You can change someone's dance so that it works just for you!"

As he thought about this, Dark Leo shot a look across the room. Catching his leader's eyes, Dark Raph looked down shamefully. Dark Leo's eyes shifted to CJ and Dark Mikey's dancing. The moves were pretty good, with CJ imitating the screen, and his brother imitating her. As he watched, his eyes widened as realization struck. He approached the trio and looked down at Dark Raph.

"Join them," he ordered. Dark Raph's head shot up in astonishment.

"Ya mean it?" he asked eagerly. Dark Leo nodded. The red turtle got up and went to CJ's right side. Dark Leo took Dark Raph's place at the right end of the couch. CJ grinned as Dark Raph began to move with them.

"Glad you could join us!" she panted. Dark Raph simply nodded as Dark Leo put his elbows on his knees and rested his head on the back of his hands. He watched their moves intensely as gears turned in his head. He was so intent on their dancing that he almost didn't notice Dark Don approach.

"What are you doing?" he wondered, confused. The leader never took his eyes off the screen.

"Training," Dark Leo murmured. Dark Don simply stared at him, before walking away, more confused than ever. Dark Leo continued to watch, battle plans flowing into his mind.

_Remember what she said… adapt to the situation. Make it yours. Find what works for you._

_This could work. This could seriously work!_

* * *

"Did you find her?"

"Not yet. This city is so huge. It's like New York. How about you?"

"I wouldn't have asked if you had found her if I had found her, moron!"

Leo sighed. "No need to get huffy, Raph."

"I can't help it!" Raph growled, "We can't exactly get home without her, and if we don't get home our dimension will blow!"

"Are you sure that's the _only_ reason?" Mikey leaned forward so that he was next to Leo. He smirked.

"You'd better be happy that I can't hit you right now," Raph hissed.

"Knock it off, Raph," Donnie's voice emanated from the T-Phone.

Beep beep beep!

"We can't understand you, Bee," Leo told the car he was in. Mikey leaned back into the backseat.

"That's another reason," Raph went on. Leo could practically hear the eyeroll.

"These sewers are so different from ours," Donnie noted. A smack was heard.

"No duh, brainiac!" Raph spat, "We're in a different dimension!"

Bee continued to drive around, attempting to find some trace of the female girl.

"Can't you trace her watch?" Don asked.

Bee made a noise that sounded a lot like an 'uh-uh'. Leo and Mikey kept looking left and right as Bee drove, mainly down the alleyways as they still weren't sure if it was okay to be seen.

After a few more minutes of searching, Mikey spotted something green.

"Over there!" he cried eagerly. Leo turned to where Mikey was pointing. A green turtle had just entered a tall building.

"Was that her?" Leo questioned.

"I think so! I think she's using her turtle disguise or something!" Mikey shrugged. "Let's go check it out!"

Bee beeped happily and began to head wards it. As they drove, something changed inside the vehicle. They hadn't noticed before because they were going so fast, and the windows had been closed.

"Leo, is it me, or is it stuffy in here?" Mikey murmured, finding it harder to breath.

"No, I feel it too," Leo panted, "It's like the atmosphere changed or something."

Bee remained silent as he drove, unable to detect any atmospheric differences. They soon reached the building that the turtle had entered. Bee opened the doors and the two of them flopped to the pavement, gasping for breath.

"Get inside," Leo whispered. Nodding, Mikey headed for the doors, with Leo close behind. The brothers managed to make it inside and collapsed at the doors. Raph's voice suddenly rang out of the T-Phone.

"Did you find her?" he asked eagerly.

"Can't… breathe…" Mikey told him, barely having enough energy to bring the T-Phone to his mouth.

"Quit fooling around, Mikey," Raph growled.

"He's right…" Leo piped up, "It's… really hard to… breathe up here…"

"Hang on, guys," Don fretted, "We're on our way. We've got your location."

Leo grunted in reply and attempted to look up. The room he was in was very fancy, like nothing he'd ever seen before. A gasp caught his attention. At the top of a set of stairs stood a strange, blue-skinned girl. She gawked down at them.

"Help us…" Leo whispered as loudly as he could, "We can't… breathe…"

Nodding, the girl floated off. If Leo hadn't been so disoriented he wold have noticed rollerblades on her feet. He looked at Mikey, who was lying hear him, breathing heavily. A moan told him that his younger brother was still conscious. After a few pressing moments, the girl retuned, along with a boy and a giant robot. Not nearly as big as Bumblebee, but still a fairly decent size. It towered over them, anyway. The robot held some strange looking devices. Most were a dark blue, but some were a lighter version of blue, like Leo's mask, and others were a vibrant orange. It came down the steps and forcefully attached the machines to their arms, legs, and plastron, first to Leo, and then to Mikey. Leo took in a large gulp of air, relieved that he could breathe again. As his strength returned and he slowly got to his feet, he felt the devices change a bit. Looking down, he saw the strange, 2D devices becoming more 3-dimenstional, until they resembled something from their own dimension. He hadn't noticed it before, but now that danger was averted, Leo looked around and realized that the dimension they were in was very flat and 2D styled.

"Thank you," Leo looked up at the three of them, "I'm Leonardo, and this is my younger brother Michelangelo."

"Oh dear," the robot murmured, "It appears they may have suffered an amnesiatic blow to the head. Either that or there's more of them. And for my sake I do hope that it's the first option…"

"Am…nes…ia…tic?" Mikey stammered.

"There's more?" Leo asked excitedly, ignoring Mikey, "CJ came here?"

"Who?" the boy asked, confused. At that moment, another voice came from the top of the stairs.

"Cody, what's the problem?"

A third turtle came into view. Leo and Mikey gawked at him, before exchanging looks.

"Donnie?" Mikey wondered.

"Why do you look so weird?" Leo asked, "And how'd you get here so fast?"

"You think I look weird," Don stared, "You should get a mirror. Anyway, I thought you guys were in the training room?"

"No, we just got here," Leo explained.

"How'd you lose your gear?"

"We never had it," Mikey chimed in.

"You're voices sound weird, too."

"Hey. You don't sound too normal, either," Leo retorted.

The blue girl from earlier looked up at the robot. "You think we should tell them, Serling?"

Serling didn't move. "No. I would like to see how long it takes them to figure it out. Plus, this could get very humorous very fast."

Raph suddenly showed up next to Don, fuming.

"There ya are, ya little insect!" he snarled, glaring at Mikey, "Ya think yer real funny, stickin' plastic bugs in my cereal?!"

Mikey gulped and began to run as Raph chased him with his Sai. Leo simply facepalmed.


End file.
